TIRANA, June 3 – The Albanian government has identified several unused state-owned plants which went bankrupt after the transition to a market economy in the early 1990s and is planning to provide the facilities to industrial investors under concession contracts for a symbolic 1 Euro in return for investments and employment.
“Albania has inherited some industrial factories that have operated until the early 1990s, the period of drastic changes in political and economic system, which have already lost their productive destination, due to some technical and economic factors, in front of a competitive regional market and beyond,” says the energy ministry.
The facilities are situated in some of the country’s key regions such as Elbasan, Fier, Vlora and Durres.
The ministry says these facilities possess power supply, road and sewerage infrastructure and are situated quite close to national roads and ports.
In the Elbasan region, central Albania, the government is offering facilities in the former steel plant. Meanwhile, in Fier, several facilities are offered in the former nitrogen fertilizer plant.
Facilities of around 9,000 m2 in a former textile plant in Berat, southern Albania, have been recently awarded to an Albanian-Italian joint venture operating in the garment and footwear industry for a symbolic 1 Euro.
Foreign investors will be offered simplified and accelerated procedures in the next three years for strategic investments in energy, mining, transport, telecommunication, infrastructure, urban waste, tourism, agriculture and fishing and special economic zones, according to a draft law government has submitted to Parliament.
The draft law comes at a time when government has unveiled its plan to privatize major remaining state-owned assets and dozens of concessions are scheduled for public services in a bid to improve the quality and efficiency of current services and reduce costs to the state budget.
The law which is expected to extend its effects until December 2018 is a temporary measure targeting to attract foreign direct investment and know-how in strategic sectors by lifting barriers such as red-tape and lack of transparency which have prevented FDI inflows in key sectors.
Economy Minister Arben Ahmetaj has described the new law as guarantee to investors who will have their contracts approved by Parliament.
“This is guarantee to investors because we are naturally talking about investments of over Euro 50 million which will bring development in strategic sectors and guarantee employment,” Ahmetaj has said.
