TIRANA, Aug. 12 – The municipality of Vlora in southern Albania risks losing 2.2 million euros if it cancels a controversial parking concession deal it approved in December 2014, says the Albanian Association of Journalists for Justice..
The 15-year contract with a U.S.-Israeli joint venture signed in February 2015 has also been criticized by the High State Audit which has demanded its cancellation because of minimum benefits from the municipality and favoring the concessionaire for unfairly benefits 184.5 million lek (€1.3 mln).
The concession contract envisages that car owners will have to pay 50 lek/hour (€0.35/h) for parking in 25 main streets of Vlora, which is too much for average Albanian citizens who are already facing some of Europe’s highest fuel prices although having one of the lowest GDP per capita in the region.
The High State Audit unveiled the evaluation commission on the concession acted in violation of the public-private partnership law because the sole bidder in the tender did not meet the general and specific qualification criteria. The deadline of the concession was also suspiciously extended from an initial 10 years to 15 years.
The municipality of Tirana also proposed a costly parking concession ahead of the June local elections but withdrew because of the high costs for drivers.
Meanwhile, the newly established municipal council in Fier has cancelled a parking concession with an Albanian company.
