On the eve of the end of the year, the government has once again re-announced the international tender for the New Integrated Commercial Port of Durrës in Porto Romano, first phase.

After the failure of a previous open procedure this year, it seems that the decision has been made to try once again for one of the most debated procedures of this year, the limit fund of which has been set at Lek 39.2 billion or about Euro 400 million. The port will be built with public funds as specified in the tender documents and the contracting authority in this case is the Durrës Port Authority.

In the tender documents, it is clarified that the Durrës Port Authority has decided to develop the procurement procedure above the upper monetary limit without dividing it into lots, based on the forecasts of the works for the facility according to the contract: "Detailed Project of the New Integrated Commercial Port of Durrës in Porto Romano".

"The Contracting Authority finds it technically impossible to divide this project into separate lots," the tender documents state. According to the accompanied document, technical documentation, including the Technical Report, Technical Specifications, and Work Forecast prepared by the designer, clearly shows that the work processes for this object are closely related to each other.

"Also, a single contract approach makes the project more commercially attractive to qualified international contractors, increasing the likelihood of receiving more competitive bids," the document states.

Between the two alternatives for the development of the new Port in Porto Romano, where the activity of the current one in Durrës will be moved, the government has chosen the C2 model. This model envisages a port developing onshore rather than variant C1 which envisages development at sea.

At the end of 2022, during the presentation of the project, it was underlined that the project has a significant cost, so it will require the commitment of budget funds, Port Authority funds, grants, and also the private sector, thus leaving open the possibility of PPP. At least 46% of the funding will be provided by the government and 54% by the private sector.

In the presentation of the project by the representative of the company Royal Haskoning DHV at that time it was underlined that this investment is considerable and normally it should be the government that bears a good part of its weight.