From July 2015 to July 2018, Fusha shpk has profited at least €30 million in contracts with local governments. The company has also received at least €13 million more from municipalities from contracts it has entered as part of a consortium.
Fusha is expected to receive another €10 million in the coming months from contracts that have been signed but have not begun execution yet.
Information from Open Data Albania (ODA) concerning municipal public procurements show that Fusha has profited at least 3.6 billion lekë from individual contracts and at least 1.5 billion lekë from joint contracts with the municipalities.
Analyzing ODA’s data, Exit noticed that the Tirana municipality was the institution that signed the most individual contracts with Fusha shpk.
It seems that, following Erion Veliaj’s rise to the head of the municipality, Fusha shpk has become an almost exclusive contractor of the Tirana municipality. During Veliaj’s term, Fusha has received at least 28 contracts valued at more than 3.3 billion lekë (€27 million). According to ODA, 13 of these contracts have been direct procurement ones or had problematic tenders. Almost all of the others are suspected of fictitious competition.
Fusha’s main contracts were the reconstruction of Skënderbeg Square and the construction of the underground parking beneath the square. For the first concessionary contract, the Tirana municipality organized a fictitious tender for which only Fusha qualified, whereas, for the construction of the parking was illegally done via “procurement with negotiation without preliminary declaration”.
Fusha shpk also holds a three-year contract (2017–2019) concerning the cleaning of a part of Tirana, valued at over €2 million per year, in addition to hundreds of thousands of euros the company also receives nearly annually through contract extensions or direct contracts for certain clean-ups. In 2016, as well, Fusha held a cleaning contract with the Tirana municipality, initially valued at €1.4 million, then raised at €1.9 million via two contract extensions.
The Tirana municipality has paid Fusha over €2 million to plant trees alongside the Tirana-Durrës highway. Fusha has received over €300.000 for the renovation of the amphitheater in the Artificial Lake Park.
The services Fusha provides the municipality with are diverse and include, among other things, road and squares construction, asphalting, cleaning the city and other objects, purchase and maintenance of trash cans and park benches, placing railings, etc.
As it is known, Fusha shpk has been handpicked by mayor Veliaj and Prime Minister Edi Rama to develop the area behind the National Theater building via a suspect corrupt affair in which the Tirana municipality will give Fusha, who owns only 298 square meters of the area, over 1300 square meters, as well as thousands of square meters in the form of the current Theater building, owned by the government. In exchange, the excuse goes, Fusha will build a new National Theater building.
Fusha shpk seems to have a similarly exclusive relationship with the Roskovec and Vora municipalities, as well. During a three year period, the company has signed contracts worth €2.3 million and €1.9 million, respectively, humongous sums for the limited budgets of such small municipalities.
Meanwhile, in March 2018, Fusha won a tender worth over €7.5 million to renovate the Vlora Boulevard. Construction, however, has yet to begin and foundations are expected to be laid at the end of the year.
By analyzing ODA-provided informations, Exit also found that, between July 2015 and July 2018, Fusha shpk has won at least 12 important contracts valued at €13 million as part of various consortiums.
Fusha shpk and Everest shpk have renovated the square near the entrance of the Port of Durrës, also known as Veliera, valued at €3.7 million. Fusha shpk and Bajrami shpk have renovated the square near the Durrës Mausoleum valued at €2.3 million.
A consortium of Fusha shpk and Colombo shpk renovated the Ali Demi school building in Vlora at the hefty price, for a school building, of €1.3 million. Fusha shpk and Besta shpk renovated the area along the Osum river and flood prevention in Ura Vajgurore for €1.2 million.
