TRANSPARENCY, ACCOUNTABILITY AND CIVIC ENGAGEMENT
AIS Newsletter January 2022Constitutional Court must abrogate the Corruptive Law - Democratic Party Supports the Lawsuit prepared by the Civil Society
The Democratic Party has filed a lawsuit in the Constitutional Court demanding the Suspension and Abrogation of Chapter VI of the Normative Act with the power of Law no. 9/2019 "On coping with the consequences of natural disasters". This law violates the Freedom of Economic Activity, as a constitutional freedom. Contracting for the 2019 Post-Earthquake Reconstruction Program with a fund of about Albanian Lekë 120 billion is being done with contractors selected without open competition, restricting economic freedoms. This law creates premises for the selection of businesses in clientelist way, causing high financial loss. AIS/OpenData, an Albanian Civil Society Organization prepared this Lawsuit and filed it to the Constitutional Court in September 2021. The Constitutional Court refused to review the Lawsuit , claiming that the organization cannot justify the direct interest in such claim. Recognizing the essence of the Lawsuit and responding to the Organization's request to set the Constitutional Court in motion at all costs, the Democratic Party supports the Civil Society request, and filed this Lawsuit signed by its 28 Members of Parliament. Now, the Constitutional Court must examine the unconstitutionality of this law.
.Business companies that are constructing after the Earthquake, 10 Economic Operators won 25 % of the entire state fund
Open Data Albania has published a Ranking of the Economic Operators in the Reconstruction Process based on economic values. In total, there are , Albanian leke 67.6 billion announced as being contracted to business companies. On the top of the list of operators, is a consortium led by a company established by a current mayor. The 10 largest contractors have 25% of the total contracted value. 33 Contractors have 50% of the fund. There are no foreign or international business company on the list, and this was expected as long as the procedure selected for identification and contracting does not respect economic freedoms and equality of competition. The data are part of the Contracting monitoring through two databases, Contracting Reconstruction Program in the Municipality and the Albanian Development Fund ADF .
Out of the 100 tenders with the highest value in 2021, 35 are marked as RedFlag for lack of competition
Open Data Albania has published the list of the 100 tenders with the highest value, carried out by the State Tendering Authorities during 2021 . These tenders are ranked according to their values. The tender with the highest value announced and finalized by the public authorities in the country during 2021 is the Construction of the Llogara Tunnel, in the road section Orikum-Himara, part of the SH8 Vlora - Saranda Highway. This tender has a limit fund value of Albanian Lekë 18 967 810 952 was won by a union of Turkish operators TNTEKAR YAPI LTD. - İ, and has been procured by the Ministry of Infrastructure and Energy. This contract accounts for 23% of the value of contracts for the 100 tenders with the highest value of 2021. It is striking that in the 100 largest tenders, there are 35 contracts signed through a limited procedure or direct negotiations, therefore the are marked as RedFlag for the lack of competition.