The Democratic Party (PD) warned today that the government has decided in advance which company will win the tender for Lot 1 of the Outer Ring Road construction in Tirana.
Companies for two of the three lots are already set. This is the second time the first lot tender is being held, following the scandal with DH Albania, which had won the tender through forged documents.
In a public statement, Lealba Pelinku of the anti-corruption department in PD said:
““Gjoka Konstruksion” company is predetermined to win the tender which was manipulated through specific terms of reference that most construction companies could not meet.
No one has any doubts that it was Edi Rama who ordered [the rigging of] this project and the extortion of €20 million from Albanian citizens for a 2.3 km-long road segment.
The is no alternative explanation for his [Rama’s] insistence to funnel €18 million first to a ghost company registered in a tax heaven, and now to one of the main companies profiting from the mega-project of stealth “Albania One Euro” through which corruption money is laundered.”
Gjoka Konstruksion also got the concession of Rruga e Arbrit from the Rama government, and it started construction works in October 2018. The total cost of the project, which is part of the so-called “1 Billion Euro Plan”, is €250 million, of which €60 million will be paid by the state, while €190 million will be financed by the construction company.
Gjoka Konstruksion is expected to charge €4 per car once the toll highway starts operation.
