Submitted to AKEP on 26.02.2018 – “Opinions about the Document subject to Public Consultation “On Amendments to Regulation No.2, dated 21. 02. 2008”

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Dear members of the Steering Board of AKEP,

The non-Government organization Albanian Institute of Science (AIS), registered with the Register of NGOs at Tirana District Court by initial decision No. 3048, dated 28/03/2011, would like to take the opportunity to express its highest considerations for your work and institutions. In response to the Document for Public Consultation “On amendments to Regulation No. 2, dated 21. 02. 2008 “On the registration and administration of domain names nën.al , gov, mil.al, edu.al, com.al, org.al and net.al as amended”, a document published on your official website, where suggestions were expected until 28 February 2018, let us share with you some thoughts, which we consider necessary and of concern. They address mostly aspects related with the activity of the non-governmental sector in terms of being able to use the ‘.al’ space for creating instruments of communication, information, free thought, and civic education.

Wishing you a successful finalization of your regulation amendment process, we hope to contribute by sharing our opinion:

OPINIONS

ON THE DOCUMENT SUBJECT TO PUBLIC CONSULTATION “On amendments to Regulation No. 2, dated 21.02.2008 “On the registration and administration of domain names under .al and under .gov, .mil.al, .edu.al, .com.al, .org.al and .net.al domains”, as amended”.

First of all;

On page 11, AKEP raises the question whether the Regulation may determine a maximum number of 5 to 10 domains for each individual or organization, excluding state institutions.
Page 12. point b. The maximum number of domains allowed under .al, including subdomains, is 5 to 10, on the condition that they start to be used within a 3 to 6 months deadline. The domain registrars have to check whether a domain they register/modify is used within this deadline and within its period of validity. If a domain is found not to be used for 6 months during its valid period, the Registrar classifies that domain as free.

The Constitutional Court has delivered in its jurisprudence that the principle of the rule of law obliges all public bodies to exercise their powers only in the framework of, and based on the Constitutional norm. The legal acts issued by such bodies must be in compliance with the highest legal acts both in their formal and substantial sense. The respect for the hierarchy of the normative acts is an obligation deriving from the principle of the rule of law and the principle of coherence of the legal system (decision no.2, dated 03.02.2010; no.1, dated 12.01.2011; no. 23, dated 08.06.2011; no. 25, dated 28.04.2014 of the Constitutional Court).

Article 4/1 of the Constitution provides that: “The law represents the basis and the limits of the activity of the state”. Further, Article 116 of the Constitution describes the hierarchy of the sources of the law as one of the fundamental values of the rule of law, where the legislative power has a primary role. The description of the hierarchy o acts in the Constitution, as well as the sanctioning of the principle of separation and balancing of powers in how the constitutional bodies exercise their functions, i.e. by issuing normative acts, embodies at its best the principle of the rule of law in a parliamentary system. The Parliament, vested with the sovereign power of creating the primary sources of law, authorizes the issuance of normative acts for materializing its will. Such authorization must adhere to the criteria set forth under Article 118 of the Constitution to be in harmony with the principle of separation and balancing of powers, as well as with the hierarchy of the normative acts sanctioned by Article 7 and Article 116 of the Constitution (decision no.5, dated 5.2.2014 of the Constitutional Court).

Article 118/1 of the Constitution provides that “sublegal acts are issued on the basis of, and for the implementation of laws by the bodies foreseen by the Constitution”. The second paragraph of this article, on the other hand, provides that: “the law must authorize the issuance of the legal acts, identify the body responsible, the issue to be regulated, as well as the principles on the basis of which such acts are issued.”

Such provisions help giving a Constitutional and doctrinarian meaning to the concept of “legal reserve”, through which the normative power of the executive bodies is limited or oriented in regulating certain relations by sublegal acts. Such legal reserve enables a concrete issue already regulated by law to be further detailed by sublegal acts, adhering to the principles and limitations set by law. It is only in this way that the authorization of the lawmaker for issuing sublegal acts may be considered as exercised within the limits of constitutionality.

According to Article 17 of the Constitution, the rights and freedoms of a person may only be limited by law. Referring to the content of Article 17 of the Constitution, the Constitutional Court delivers that the way how this provision is formulated does not give any other bodies the possibility to delegate except for the Assembly as a representative body. The purpose of this article is to make sure that in order to ensure the fulfilment of the criteria in case of limitations, and to provide as comprehensive guarantees as possible, there should be only one competent body, and this body has to be the highest lawmaking body. The expression “only by law” means that in case of a need to limit a right foreseen by the Constitution, then it is only in the discretion of the lawmaker, and not any other bodies, including the Council of Ministers.

The Constitutional Court has delivered that the regulation provided for by Article 17 on the limitation of the rights and freedoms only by law is also related with setting the competence of a concrete body, which in this case is the Assembly. Such an expression refers you to the competence of a lawmaking body, and the issuance of additional acts for regulating such relations, affects the competences of this body. Any opposite interpretation is certainly an invalidation of the guarantee given by the Constitution for the protection of human rights and freedoms, and would effectively affect such rights and freedoms. The same conclusion is also reached referring to the word “only” mentioned in Articles 11/3 and 17 of the Constitution. It is not by accident that such word is used, it is rather chosen to show that such restrictions/limitations may not be introduced by any other means than the law.

By setting a certain number of domains (5-10) for each applicant, AKEP has limited the rights, especially when such fact is seen in the context of the current unlimited possibility in this regard.

The rights of such nature must only be limited by law, according to Article 17 of the Constitution, and not by the Regulation of AKEP, which is a sublegal act. If this, however, happens, it would mean that AKEP has taken the exclusive competence of the Assembly, regulating such limitation in such a way. Therefore, any acts issued afterwards by AKEP in this regard, would be absolutely invalid. Besides, such acts would even be against the Constitutional norm.

Example: Our organization has more than ten domains (subdomains) on .al. the limitation of our right of ownership (to not more than 10), limits our possibility to use instruments of communication, information, and free speech, which we have so far used lawfully. The obligation to close any of our domains as a result of a restrictive regulation like this, would constitute a case of censorship, and affect our right to operate in line with the objectives and mission of a non-governmental organization. In addition, we are already working on several projects, where we intend to bring the certain words in different (more than 10) EU languages, using the .al domain. This would not be possible with the proposed regulation making it impossible to use a website in several languages, and domains and subdomains adopted to the content.

Secondly,

The ownership of so many .al domains by the Registrar itself, represents a kind of obstacle to the freedom of the subjects and individuals in registering a domain name, especially in the case of those, who own registered trademarks and patents.
This argument is not grounded on any facts, or scientific or empirical research. The Dictionary of the Albanian Language of 2006, a publication of the Academy of Science of Albania and the Institute of Linguistics and Literature carries 48 000 Albanian words (not including their declination or conjugation suffixes) and no technical or scientific terms. Domains, though, may even come in foreign languages or acronyms even though on the .al domain.
This is also not justified, and causes time limitations to the purpose for which someone becomes a (domain) owner.
Protection of trademarks and patents can be best regulated legally (the judicial doctrine also offers some solutions), and there is no reason for creating just number limitations.

The ownership of this number of .al domains by the Registrar represents a kind of obstacle to the freedom of the subjects and individuals for registering a domain name, especially those, who own registered trademarks and patents.

AKEP also notes that when a company or individual fails to use a new .al domain for justified and proven technical reasons, the company or individual must be recognized the right of renewal for the same term, but not more than once, provided that it (the company or individual) uses it within 3 up to 6 months after renewal.

The argument above given in the Draft Decision is not valid. In order to first conclude that this “constitutes an obstacle to the freedom of subjects and individuals for registering a domain name”, it must first identified the maximum number of .al. domains that could be registered. This number must then be compared with the number of existing domains already registered on .al. If such comparison shows violation of the principle of proportionality, such a step by the state bodies could be legitimized.

The draft decision, however, does not contain any data of this kind. Besides, logically specking, the number of combination of words that could take the suffix .al would be endless even if we refer to the Albanian dictionary. Therefore, the introduction of such restriction makes no sense.

Besides, for the above reasons, this restriction may not be introduced in a sublegal act, but only in a law.

In addition, AKEP generates money from the ownership of these domains. Therefore, it makes no sense why this should also be restricted.

As far as the operation of the domain(s), this also requires some legal explanation. For as long as someone registers, keeps, and pays for a domain, it is their right to use that domain or not. The domain could not be set in operation for many unpredictable reasons, but it is still up to them to decide to use it or not. The only condition that both parties must meet is the payment of the relevant fee. Only in case of failure to pay such fee, may AKEP take back the domain and make it free.

Example: Our organization spent one year to raise fund and 6-8 months to develop the web and data catalogue to make its data catalogue, known as Open Data Albania, operate. This is the optimal planning and implementation time for each of our databases of open and transparent data. The proposed restriction would be regressive and unsubstantiated.

Thirdly,

Point 7, pages 13-14 Based on the complaints and concerns raised with AKEP by applicants or owners of .al domains and subdomains, AKEP thinks that there is a need for introducing a special Annex to Regulation No.2, or to expand the current Article 27 of Regulation No. 2 on resolution of disputes, clarifying that AKEP has the right to solve disputes when such disputes are related with rules issued by AKEP, while regarding any other disputes, the parties may address the competent bodies.

Based on the Code of Administrative Procedure, AKEP may not exercise this competence. Such competence may be exercised by a supervisory AKEP body, which does not actually exist. Therefore, in case of any disputed related with acts issued by AKEP, the competent body is the administrative court.

On the other hand, Law No. 9918, dated 19.05.2008 “On electronic communication in the Republic of Albania”, its Article 8 on the Competencies of AKEP, does not provide for any such competencies. The distinction between disputes related with acts issued by AKEP and other types of disputes is artificial and inapplicable in practice. It is difficult to understand the words rules issued by AKEP, for as long as even AKEP own decisions of will also be based on documents issued by other institutions.

Fourthly,

5. In Annex 2, “List of Reserved Names”, the following separate point shall be added: Names of domains under .al, which correspond accurately with names of subjects, which are known due to the activity they exercise and due to their registration in line with the applicable legislation in offices, institutions, authorities, such as the National Business Centre (NBC), or registrations made for purposes of disclosing or protecting industrial property data, specific names, or else, shall constitute reserved domains.

The prevailing criterion (even if accepted as such) may not be determined by sublegal acts. This, and any other criteria, would be legally valid only if they are provided for in a legal, and not sublegal, act.

In addition, the law, or any bylaws issued through exclusive delegation, must also set detailed procedural rules on the stages, modalities, and review of complaints. It should also explain how evidence or conformation are to be administered or obtained by AKEP from other institutions. The Albanian legislation contains many practices, which are exhaustive as long as the procedural aspect for an administrative body to reach a decision is concerned.

On the other hand, the registration of a subject with a public register, e.g. NBC, does not mean that this (the name) is a commercial trademark of that subject. The register of commercial trademarks is a different type of register, which creates rights.

Registration with the NBC does not create rights. It simply has some publication effects for third parties. This means that as long as such register has only such publication effects, it may not be offered any additional protection, or any other qualification in the register of .al domains as proposed in the draft decision.

This draft decision considers all public registers as equal, and makes no distinction between those of a declarative nature and others, which create rights for the registered subjects. Therefore, it is not justifiable why registration with the NBC prevails and should be respected in every other registration, while the NBC law itself has not provided for this, but has rather respected the declarative nature of this register.

Fifthly,

– The draft decision must be drafted in line with the recommending acts of the Albanian state applicable to the drafting of regular acts. The Ministry of Justice has issued a special manual for this purpose (Manual on Law Drafting). This Manual is equally applicable to the drafting of sublegal acts, as in this case. That is why the proposed text must have a clear structure, show clearly the proposed changes, and be accompanied by a report which explains why such changes are necessary, etc.

– The draft decision must also be accompanied by a table on the transposition of Aquis Communaitaire in this area. A table must be prepared for this purpose, indicating the EU Directives (if applicable) and compliance reached though the proposed text, as well as the relevant reasons.

-Another added value of this proposed act would be comparison with the experience of other countries in the region, which have already gone through similar stages of development of their electronic communication, and their approach to the same issues.

Aplikim për trajnimin Qeverisje e Hapur kundër Korrupsionit, qeverisje e hapur për Qeverisje të mirë, Prrenjas 28 Shkurt 2018

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Instituti Shqiptar i Shkencave (AIS), një organizatë promotore e të dhënave të hapura, transparencës dhe llogaridhënies, në kuadër të projektit “Open Government against Corruption – Open Gov for Good Governance”, që mbështetet nga fondi i nën-grantimit “Anti-korrupsioni dhe zhvillimi i kapaciteteve” në kuadër të projektit CIVILISC, financuar nga BE, zbatuar nga IDM në partneritet me Fondacionin RiskMonitor, Bullgari, organizon në datë 28 Shkurt 2018, në Bashkinë Prrenjas një trajnim për organizatat të shoqërisë civile lokale, aktivist, dhe pjestarë të paneleve qytetare si Antarë të Këshillit Bashkiak. Trajnimi ka si fokus rritjen e kapaciteteve të tyre në përdorimin e instrumenteve të Qeverisjes së Hapur. Metodologjia e trajnimit është interaktive duke synuar pjesmarrje dhe shkëmbim experience.

Të interesuarit mund të alikojnë këtu deri në datë 22 Shkurt 2018.

Aplikantët e suksesshëm do të njoftohen përmes emailit mbi përzgjedhjen për pjesmarrje në trajnim brenda datës 23 Shkurt 2018.

Aplikim për trajnimin Qeverisje e Hapur kundër Korrupsionit, qeverisje e hapur për Qeverisje të mirë, Cërrik 22 Shkurt 2018

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Instituti Shqiptar i Shkencave (AIS), një organizatë promotore e të dhënave të hapura, transparencës dhe llogaridhënies, në kuadër të projektit “Open Government against Corruption – Open Gov for Good Governance”, që mbështetet nga fondi i nën-grantimit “Anti-korrupsioni dhe zhvillimi i kapaciteteve” në kuadër të projektit CIVILISC, financuar nga BE, zbatuar nga IDM në partneritet me Fondacionin RiskMonitor, Bullgari, organizon në datë 22 Shkurt 2018, në Bashkinë Cërrik një trajnim për organizatat të shoqërisë civile lokale, aktivist, dhe pjestarë të paneleve qytetare si Antarë të Këshillit Bashkiak. Trajnimi ka si fokus rritjen e kapaciteteve të tyre në përdorimin e instrumenteve të Qeverisjes së Hapur. Metodologjia e trajnimit është interaktive duke synuar pjesmarrje dhe shkëmbim experience.

Të interesuarit mund të alikojnë këtu deri në datë 18 Shkurt 2018.

Aplikantët e suksesshëm do të njoftohen përmes emailit mbi përzgjedhjen për pjesmarrje në trajnim brenda datës 19 Shkurt 2018.

Aplikim për trajnimin Qeverisje e Hapur kundër Korrupsionit, qeverisje e hapur për Qeverisje të mirë, Belsh 27 Dhjetor 2017

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Instituti Shqiptar i Shkencave (AIS), një organizatë promotore e të dhënave të hapura, transparencës dhe llogaridhënies, në kuadër të projektit “Open Government against Corruption – Open Gov for Good Governance”, që mbështetet nga fondi i nën-grantimit “Anti-korrupsioni dhe zhvillimi i kapaciteteve” në kuadër të projektit CIVILISC, financuar nga BE, zbatuar nga IDM në partneritet me Fondacionin RiskMonitor, Bullgari, organizon në datë 27 Dhjetor 2017, në Bashkinë Belsh një trajnim për organizatat të shoqërisë civile lokale, aktivist, dhe pjestarë të paneleve qytetare si Antarë të Këshillit Bashkiak. Trajnimi ka si fokus rritjen e kapaciteteve të tyre në përdorimin e instrumenteve të Qeverisjes së Hapur. Metodologjia e trajnimit është interaktive duke synuar pjesmarrje dhe shkëmbim experience.
Të interesuarit mund të alikojnë këtu.

Aplikantët e suksesshëm do të njoftohen përmes emailit mbi përzgjedhjen për pjesmarrje në trajnim.

Regress made with judicial statistical data. Ministry of Justice does not compile its annual statistics for 2016

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Even on the ninth month of 2017, the Ministry of Justice has not yet managed to meet its obligation to Monitor, Process, Analyze, and Publish Statistical Data about the Judicial System for the previous year, i.e. 2016. Every first quarter of the year, this institution presents its Annual Statistical Report to the public. Such report contains statistical data about the progress made by the Courts, number of court cases, compliance of judges with the judicial deadlines, punishments given for certain groups of criminal offences, court proceedings by districts, etc. Such statistical data usually come in the form of a PDF publication, which serves the public, justice professional, journalists, and scientific researchers. In 2015, the publication methodology was enriched by a group of indicators about criminal offences related with corruption. The publication of this annual statistical report is an obligation according to the Law on the Organization of the Ministry of Justice and the relevant secondary legislation. AIS, as an organization promoting the right to information and transparency, addressed the Ministry of Justice, asking for an accessible statistical database for the justice system for 2016 and onwards. Transparency with the judicial statistical data becomes even more important now that the system is going through a vetting process. Similar delays with certain publications have also happened in other similar years before due to the Ministry reshuffling and change of the Minister of Justice.

All Digital Study Visit- AIS visits Langas į ateitį in Vilnius

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AIS Study visit at LiA

Albanian Institute of Science is a small organization based in Tirana, Albania . AIS main focus in to use technologies in profit of the citizens. AIS is promotor of Open Data in Albania and first Hackathon organizer. Two of our members Besjana Hysa, Project Manager and Orsela Droja Youth Participation Activist represented AIS in this Study Visit.

Destination ?

Langas į ateitį ( Windows to the Future) an organization that aims to promote the use of Internet and e-services in Lithuania and hereby stimulate the growth of the standard of living, as well as Lithuania’s competitiveness among European and other countries of the world based in Vilnius Lithuania.

On the first day we got to visit Langas į ateitį offices and exchange a little bit of information about both our countries. For example both Albania and Lithuania has a population around 3 million citizens and Albania has 61 municipalities, only one more than Lithuania that has 60.

After exchange of some main information we got to work and share our project and work experiences. We got a lot of information in LiA main projects as:

  • Online services for a Lithuanian e-citizen, a project that took place in 2010-2012 and reached 259 participants. The project target groups were: unemployed, people with disabilities and rural population, which learnt to use computer, internet and e-services, representatives of more socially vulnerable groups are able to integrate more quickly into the community life and labour market and have more possibilities to study and communicate. The project was implemented together social partners: Lithuanian Labour Exchange, Society for the Physically Disabled of Lithuania, 35 municipal public libraries.

  • Use it and enjoy it. Project goal were to share experience with Scandinavian partners in the field of ICT training methodology for seniors, explore mmethodologies for adult education and facilitate its development. Result –  best practice package „Engaging Seniors to use ICT.

  • Trans eScouts, Empowering eFacilitator intergenerational dialogue. The idea was to empower e-facilitators for intergenerational dialogue (ICT and life experience). Target audience were 16-25 youth and  55+  and partners in this project were 4 countries: Lithuania, Latvia, Croatia, They collaborate with Vilnius city libraries for developing this project . One of the libraries we visited on the second day.

  • Generation 0101 A project were where created Free Educational Materials in 6 Languages in 7 educational modules:-  E-journalism, -Mobile application development, -Web design,- Community web radio,- Online collaboration tools for youth, -Easy coding,-  Video.

Also we shared our experience for some of our projects as are :

  • Open Data Albania: The first AIS project, aimd to open as much Governmental Financal Data as we can related to Budget, assets of declarations , procurements and in the end companies that win governmental data.

  • Hackathons that we have held throug the years, in particular a Diplohack. A #DiploHack combines the specific know-how and skill sets of NGO’s, social entrepreneurs, tech developers and designers, and those of diplomats, journalists, and academics to ‘hack’ problems and come up with out-of-the-box solutions. Small teams comprised of a civil society representative, a diplomat, and a programmer will work together for 24 hours. This also got the interest of LiA colleagues and maybe soon they will have a Hackathon or Diplohack in Lithuania

As both organizations are part of All Digital and National Members of Get Online Week , discussion on the ideas, thematic and develops of GOW activities in each country were part of the discussions on the first day.

They are partners of National Digital Coalition of Lithuania, which its main goal is improving digital skills of the citizens in order to increase employment, this type of Coalitions it does not exist in Albania. They started working since 2002 and their one of their first projects was” Establishment of public internet access points”. This project lasted from 2002 to 2004Another interesting project is Youth Work HD, which consist on creating an online leaning space where the youth can develop skills and gain knowledge to improve their work or solve their problems. Also they created a website www.epilietis.eu which is in Lithuanian and helps citizens learn how to use different internet services like e-government, e-banking etc.

In the second part of the day we visited Rise Vilnius which was a workspace for the finance economic technology community. We registered and had a tour there. We were able to have a look at all the spaces and we really enjoyed it.  Related also to the fact that our offices are rented in the first co-working space in Tirana. Most of the people working in our co-working space are IT and programmers not directly related with economic field but we already gather some good ideas of activities’ we can held in Tirana.

On the second day we visited RRT (COMUNICATIONS REGULATORY AUTHORITY OF THE REPUBLIC OF LITHUANIA). There we were presented with their work: CERT-LT helps people solve their problem with internet security and threats, that contains : how to be safe in the cyberspace, and Safer Internet which consists on children being safe online. This is another institution that we do not have in Albania and that we see very important and needed. We talked also for alternative ways how to develop some alerts on internet security in Albania and definitely AIS will consider to be engaged more in this direction also during GOW.

And as I mention before, we also visited one of the libraries of the city which offers many services. The librarians are trained to work as e-facilitators. In the library you could borrow books, e-readers, cd etc. You could even learn how to use a computer, or other internet services there, no matter what age you are. You could use their 3D printer to make models or you could try their 3D glasses to watch animated versions of Lithuanian famous book characters or other animations. And of course internet is for free.

They train librarians so they can make possible the contact between the youth and 55+. So practically the youths teach the elderly how to use computers or develop their digital skills and the elderly share life experiences with the youth. And this was a totally different experience from what we have head in Tirana. Libraries here are very small, old and without internet access. We don’t have an electronic system for searching or borrowing books even in National Library. Not only enjoyed visiting the library but also we turned back in Tirana with the idea of writing a concept idea to the Municipality Council before they decide to renovate Tirana Libraries.

At the end we can say that this study visit was very important and successful for us. We did not only have a good time sharing our work experience and add some more important points in our Organizations agendas based on what we learned from each other but also got a possibility to visit some cultural spots. Hopefully we will have possibilities to work in a project together in the future.

Open Corporates Albania, kush qëndron pas bizneseve që fitojnë tendera me bashkitë – Workshop në Vlorë

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OpenCorporate.al është portali i ri prezantuar nga Instituti Shqiptar i Shkencave. Portali ka të dhëna transparente për subjekte dhe shoqëri biznesi që kanë fituar kontrata publike dhe ankande me njësi të qeverisjes vendore. Databaza mban informacion për mbi 4000 subjekte ekonomike dhe përditësohet çdo ditë me informacion shtesë për shoqëri biznesi që kontraktohen për herë të parë.

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Njihu me kontraktor të bashkive në kontrata publike-Prezantimi Databazës OpenCorporates.al në Qytetin e Rrëshenit

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Instituti Shqiptar i Shkencave ne kuadër të projektit Monitoro Klientë të Bashkive në Kontrata Publike, i mbështetur nga Leviz Albania, prezantoi, në date 16 Shtator 2017, në qytetin e Rrëshenit platformën #OpenCorporates #Albania 

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Lezha Citizens’ Initiative published the corrupt contract.

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Lezha Citizens’ Initiative published the corrupt contract. Money spent for missing services. Citizens have no water. The database of Open Procurement Albania includes information about a fictitious tender, including unequal treatment of participants and manipulation. Where does citizens’ money go? Why expensive contracts do not guarantee even basic services? What happened with the water supply plant of Troshan in Lezha? Lezha Citizen’s Movement advocates for solving the problem. Open Procurement and Spending Data Albaniapublish the history of corrupt contracts, where money is spent in a fictitious way.

Such citizens’ reaction and protest was covered by both local and national TV stations.
Ora News  
 Report Tv

THE INFAMOUS TENDER

The tender for the water supply of Troshan village was not very timing in the first place, as it took place exactly before the implementation of the Administrative Territorial Reform, i.e. when Mayors of Communes handed over their ‘keys’ to the Mayors of the emerging municipalities. It was exactly on 20.03.2015 when then-Commune of Blinisht announced a call for tenders (open tender procedure) on its website for the construction of the water supply system of Troshan village. The fund limit for the project was 83.146.690 lekë (VAT excluded) or 99.776.000 lekë (VAT included). About one month from the date the call was announced, the Commune of Blinisht opened the offers, and disqualified seven out of eight companies that participated in the process, accepting only the only and highest offer by “Alb Tiebfau” shpk.

Here is the offer made by each participating company:

1. “Kevin Construksion” sh.p.k. 52.612.453 lekë, disqualified
2. “Geci” sh.p.k. 63.496.191 lekë, disqualified
3. “Ndregjoni” sh.p.k. 65.398.597 lekë, disqualified
4. “Gjoka Konstruksion” sh.p.k. 69.920.900 lekë, disqualified
5. Joint offer by these economic operators “B – 93” sh.p.k. & “Be – Is”sh.p.k. 72.533.982 lekë, disqualified
6. “Alko Impex General Construction” sh.p.k. 75.638.592 lekë, disqualified
7. “Alb Tiefbau” sh.p.k. 82.946.690 lekë, qualified
8. “Gjergji” sh.p.k. 83.057.628 lekë, disqualified

Several complaints were made against this allegedly corrupt procedure, but they were all disregarded. One of the companies, the most ‘combative’ one, “Be – Is”sh.p.k, was actually disqualified for having a bank account balance of 18.522 lekë less than required, a criterion introduced by the Contracting Authority, the Commune in this case, for participants to have no less than 4.165.649 leke in their bank account. This falls contrary to the law, and the company complained to the public procurement commission, but its arguments were ignored. following the rejection of all complaints made, the contracted company started to build the plant, which, according to official records, finished in 2016. The municipality reports in its actual expenditures that the contracted project was more or less implemented for what was panned, i.e. a budget of 42.5 million lekë”. On the other hand, the Municipality emphasizes in its declaration that the supervision and final inspection of the plant, which was estimated to take 0.4 million lekë for that period, was not actually done, i.e. no money was spent on supervising and inspecting the implementation of the project. However, even though the Municipality spent no money on supervision of works and inspection of the final plant in 2016, it did contract two companies for exactly these services, one on 12 October 2015, with PALMA CONSTRUCION SHPK for 245 thousand lekë for the supervision of works for the construction of the plant (no payment seems to have been made, though, to the company so far), and another one for the final inspection of the completed plant on 2 December 2016 for 1950 lekë.

MONEY PAID IN YEARS

So far, the Municipality of Lezha does not seem to have made any payments for the supervision and inspection of works, but it has now taken over the plant, for which the state budget paid almost 70% of the total amount of money allocated to this project. According to the official documents, about 3.5 million lekë were paid during 2015-2016 to “Alb Tiefbau”, while 2.9 million in the first quarter of 2017, and there is a remaining 2.5 million leke to be paid.

WATER SUPPLY PLANT – OUT OF ORDER

If you look at the official documents, everything seems to be in order, and no one would know anything if it was not for the local people, who raised their voice about the plant being out of order. they first protested in January, and asked for an explanation for the lack of water. They even met the Mayor of Lezha then, Mr. Fran Frrokaj, who promised that he would solve the problem.

They waited for 6 months, but nothing changed. Today, tens of families from the village of Troshan protested in front of the municipality. “Even one year after 100 million leke paid for the construction of a water supply plan we do not have any water”, they say, because the construction does not comply with any technical parameters. They expect the state authorities to give a verification and solution. “The water depot they built could be anything but a depot. It could be for animals, but not for humans. More than 70 cm of its height is sludge”, said an inhabitant of Troshan. Another inhabitant said that the plant is built three times, and there is still no water.

DISCREAPANCIES BETWEEN OFFICIAL RECORDS AND REALITY

So, it turns out that the plant is built according to the official documents, but the inhabitants do not have any water. The responsibility falls on the Municipality, which took over the plant. This is even confirmed by a statement made by Municipality representatives.
“The municipality is not going to take over the new water supply plant of the Administrative Unit of Blinisht without first making sure that it does supply water to all the intended families”, said the Mayor of Lezha, Mr. Fran Frrokaj at a meeting with some representatives of the village on 31 January 2017. According to Frrokajt, the Municipality would establish a working group to verify the implementation of the project.

The Deputy Mayor, Mr. Enver Hafizi, confirmed today, on the other hand, that the Municipality had taken over the plant even though the implementation did not comply with the plan. “There might be problems with the project implementation, but as far as I know, the plant is taken over by the municipality against a one-year guarantee, a time within which we may intervene”, stated Hafizi. Next, he tries to blame illegal water connections. “One of the main reasons for the lack of water is the illegal water connections’, said the Deputy Mayor, promising that the municipality would intervene, sth that the Municipality must already have done by January this year.

NO WATER, AND WATER BILLS ARE STILL PAID

Nevertheless, this is not the end of this tragicomedy. Regardless of the municipality excuses, people say that they have never had drinking water, and that claims about illegal water connections are not acceptable as long as it was the municipality itself which inspected the construction before taking it over. What is even more tragic for them is that they are still charged for the water that they do not actually get.

Raportime Za’Lart 2017 Shpërndahen ndihma 2 ditë para zgjedhjeve

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Za’Lart 2017News Letter 23 Qershor 2017

Në platformën tonë për raportime të shkeljeve zgjedhore sapo janë postuar videot e para me shpërndarje të dhuratave dhe pakove për njerëz në nevojë. Pamjet vinë nga qyteti i Shkodrës ku prej orësh komuniteti egjiptian dhe persona në nevojë, janë në radhë për të marrë pakot me ushqime. Kjo po ndodh pak orë përpara datës së votimit 25 qershor. Link raportim dhe video .
Prej një jave platforma Za’Lart është në dispozicion të raportimeve të problematikave dhe defekteve zgjedhore. Ato vinë nga qytetar dhe aktivist të ndryshëm. Disa nga raportimet janë verifikuar edhe nga gazetar dhe reporterë pjesë e ekipit që po punon për Za’Lart 2017. Deri tani janë bërë rreth 120 raportime nga zona të ndryshme të vendit. Raportimet vinë për subjekte të ndryshme elektorale. Ndër raportimet për shkeljet kryesore janë Keqpërdorimi i Administratës dhe Aseteve Publike apo Shitblerja e Votës. Zona me më shumë raportime rezulton ajo e qarkut Shkodër me bashkitë Fushë Arrëz. Pukë, Vau i dejës, Malësi e Madhe. Të tjera zona me risk janë Lezha, Kamza, Fieri etj.
Raportimet përmbajnë fakte dhe synojnë të hedhin dritë mbi perceptimin qytetar dhe realitetet në terren mbi zgjedhjet. Këto fakte edhe pse nuk janë pjesë e një investigimi apo verifikimi administrativ, kanë rëndësi pasi nxisin presion dhe qëndrim qytetar kundrejt realitetit dhe institucioneve.
Za’Lart do të presë raportime qytetare edhe gjatë ditës së votimit dhe në procesin e numërimit dhe administrimit përfundimtar. Ne ftojmë qytetarët të raportojnë problematikat që kanë dhe shkeljet që ju cenojnë të drejtën e votës. Verifikimet tona do të shënohen si “të paverifikuara” deri në momentin që ekipet dhe institucionet verifikuese do të ndërhynë me konstatimet finale.