No tenders for flood prevention investments in northern Albania

TIRANA, Feb. 8 – Flood prevention interventions in the northern Shkodra and Lezha regions which were flooded five times last year causing huge agricultural and material damage will be carried out without tenders. The decision was made on Tuesday by majority lawmakers of the legal affairs committee to accelerate interventions in the river dams and drainage of the endangered areas.
Under the normative act, the Agriculture ministry will be allowed to spend around 12 million dollars to prevent flooding through direct negotiations with interested companied and not through public tenders as foreseen by law, arguing the decision with the acceleration of intervention works considering the short time at disposal until next autumn.
“The emergency measure was taken because if normal procurement procedures were followed, their completion until next autumn would be impossible,” according to the report accompanying the act.
Arben Malaj and Andis Harasani were the only two opposition Socialist Party lawmakers participating in the session, breaking their party’s boycott following a decision by the biggest opposition party not to attend parliamentary committees after the Jan. 21 tragic events in an anti-government demonstration.
Former Finance Minister Arben Malaj, described the government solution through the normative act as short-term and not coordinated with other institutions, also raising doubts about the transparency of funds without public procurement.
The 2011 budget on agriculture, which minister Genc Ruli says is biggest ever during the past 6 years at 79 million dollars, will focus on measures to prevent flooding in the northern Shkodra region following last year’s bad experience when several areas of the country’s biggest northern region were inundated five consecutive times during the year.
Speaking at a press conference to unveil the 2011 priorities, minister Ruli said investments worth 30 million dollars or 4 times more than in 2009 will be made in the problematic Shkodra and Lezha regions where drainage and river protection infrastructure will be put in place.
The agriculture ministry says it will start implementing a flood protection project as soon as a World Bank funded study is carried out on the hydro regime, river dams and drainage system of the Shkodra region where the country’s three biggest hydropower plants are situated. The ministry expects to rehabilitate 30 km of dams for the Buna, Kir and Drin rivers flowing in Shkodra and take several other measures to rehabilitate drainage systems. Protection investments will also be made in the Korca lowland, southeast Albania, in a 5,000 hectare areas.