Central and local government units are suffering from a chronic inability to implement the public investment program according to plan.

Official data from the Ministry of Finance show that local government units were unable to use more than half of the public investment program last year.

Final data on the 2024 budget show that local governments only realized 43 percent of the investment program. Of the planned Lek 46.3 billion, only Lek 19.9 billion were invested, or less than half of the program.

The inability of municipalities to allocate investments comes at a time when they are facing great needs to invest, especially in local road infrastructure, Monitor reported on Friday.

More detailed data shows that the Municipality of Tirana had the largest investment fund with about Lek 18 billion in 2024, but it managed to invest only Lek 6.1 billion or 34 percent of the program.

The Municipality of Durrës, which is the main host of tourists in the country and has great needs in local infrastructure, has only realized 50 percent of the investment program for 2024. Out of about Lek 4 billion programmed, it has realized only Lek 2 billion.

Among the municipalities with a prefecture center, it is seen that Vlora had the weakest realization with only 17% of the program. In 2024, only Lek 251 million were invested out of Lek 1.4 billion, which was the annual program.

The Municipality of Vlora has developed marine tourism with the most beautiful coastline in the country, while the needs for investment, especially in waste management and water supply, are still great.

The Municipality of Kamza, although not a municipality with a regional center, had a large investment program compared to the others. This municipality, in relation to the available fund of Lek 2.6 billion, had the best implementation of 75%.

The Municipality of Lezha also had an 80 percent implementation of the plan, investing in 2024 about Lek 743 million out of Lek 922 million programmed.

The Municipality of Shkodra, the capital of the North with great infrastructure needs, had a poor implementation of the investment plan with only 33%. Of the Lek 689 million that was the program, only Lek 225 million were implemented.

The poorest municipality in the country, Kukës, had a high implementation of the plan with about 89%, but had the lowest investment fund available with only Lek 149 million, of which Lek 131 million were implemented.

With the territorial reform, municipalities offer a series of services ranging from education, fire brigades, local roads and a series of other social services. But in reality, municipalities suffer from a lack of capable human resources, and as a result, they have not been able to draft convincing projects to raise funds.

At a time when the country's population is aging rapidly and thousands of elderly people live alone and in economic and physical poverty, most municipalities do not provide care for the elderly. Most municipalities, even those representing regional centers, do not have homes for the elderly. Monitoring reports have shown that rural areas of the country suffer from a complete lack of waste treatment services and other local services.