Minister of Infrastructure and Energy Belinda Balluku made a statement to clarify why the Greek company sued the Albanian state over the Tirana-Elbasan highway.

According to her, the violations that have concerned the Greek company occurred at the time when this ministry was headed by the Socialist Movement for Integration (SMI).

"Feeling obliged to clarify to the public, we are elaborating on the stubborn history of this contract, which should go down in history as a case study, on how contracts should not be made.

The contract for the construction of the Tirana-Elbasan road was signed in 2012, when the Democratic Party was in charge, which today attacks us, forgetting that it signed this contract without a geological study and with dozens of changes according to the contractor's requirements and of course with the help of corrupt officials. 

The charge was then taken by the ministers of transport and the directors appointed by the SMI, to finally make this contract an affair, to the detriment of the Albanian State.

Abuses with contracts on the road Tirana - Elbasan, became known to the public in early 2018, when after the denunciation made by the Ministry of Infrastructure and Energy, the judiciary arrested three senior officials of MEI and ARA, appointed to these positions from the SMI. The clarification of this issue started in September 2017, after the change of the political direction of the Ministry of Infrastructure and Energy as well as the controls and audits performed for the procedures taken.

The International Court of Arbitration (ICC) decision on the case in question is based on:

1. Contract for the construction of the road Tirana - Elbasan, Segment no. 1, until the entrance of the tunnel, km 13, signed on 12 February 2012;

2. Contract for the construction of the road Tirana - Elbasan, Segment no. 3, from the exit of the Tunnel, km 15.2 to the city of Elbasan, km 27, signed on 13 February 2012.

The whole issue is based on claims filed by the Contractor JV Copri Aktor on 17 May 2015, for additional costs incurred during the works in Segment 3. The Contractor claimed for damages caused by ARA until that moment.

Regarding Segment no. 1, claims by the Contractor were filed on 11 December 2015, for additional costs incurred during the works in Segment 1. The Contractor claimed for damages caused by ARA until that moment.

Both of these claims 2015, were raised and administered throughout the period when the Ministry of Transport and ARA was headed by the SMI.

In order to enable the conduct of a trial on these disputes, ARA signed two amendments to contracts in July 2017 with the contractor JV Copri Aktor, which allowed the conduct of trials through a special Board, which was set up on this matter.

The Director of the Tirana - Elbasan Project Unit (Albens Alite) and ARA (Dashamir Gjika), at that time led by the SMI, did not take any steps to protect the interests of the state in these two processes and does not include the State Advocacy, as institution established by law for the protection of the interests of the state.

With the change of political direction, the Ministry of Infrastructure and Energy in September and October 2017 requested the implementation of financial audits in ARA for these issues. The audits carried out by MEI and MFE, during December 2017, are declared as illegal and in excess of the competencies the amendments of the contracts realized by ARA. Based on these findings, reports were made to the prosecutor's office for the head of the Project Management Unit and ARA, where the relevant arrests were made by the Prosecution.

The Ministry of Infrastructure and Energy has made available to the judiciary all the necessary documentation to clarify this issue, and has been ready to cooperate with justice, to bring to justice the perpetrators of this case.

The Rama government has managed this contract in the best possible way, given all the above-mentioned history and has not hesitated or even stopped denouncing this affair, which has cost the country millions of euros with the revised contracts and recently and the decision of the Arbitration,” Balluku said.