The Municipality of Tirana has cancelled the tender for the reconstruction of some 900 houses damaged by the November 26 earthquake.
Earlier in the week, the Albanian Development Fund cancelled its tender for the reconstruction of 2,500 houses.
The Municipality gave the same reason for cancellation as the ADF, that “none of the submitted bids complied with the set criteria.”
The cancellation has been made official on the website of the Public Procurement Agency (PPA).
The tender was opened on 12 March with a deadline of 23 March and was worth €14 million.
In the case of both tenders, a lack of transparency in showing the participating company or the reasoning behind the bid disqualification raises questions about the fate of the projects.
So far, the government has moved forward with projects by requesting construction of three prefabricated house models; 1+1, 2+1, and 3+1. Prefabricated houses are a good solution because they reduce costs and speeds up the construction process.
In early March, Minister Arben Ahmetaj stated that the government had allocated ALL 8.7 billion in funds (about €72 million) to the ADF and the Municipality of Tirana to build about 3,400 houses:
- ADF 2 500 houses: 683 houses 1 + 1, 972 houses 1 + 2 and 845 houses 1 + 3;
- Municipality of Tirana 889 houses: 312 houses 1 + 1, 334 houses 2 + 1 and 243 houses 3 + 1
Albania received over €1 billion in loans, donations and grants from EU Member States to reconstruct homes and conduct repairs after the earthquake.
