Yesterday the Ministry of Transport announced the winner of the public procurement of consulting services for the concession of the Milot–Morina highway trajectory of the Rruga e Kombit (National Highway). According to newspaper Shqiptarja, the winner of the tender is called DOLSAR Engineering.
The maximum budget for the consultancy will be 3.6 million lekë without VAT, and is financed for 50% by the state and 50% by the concession holder. 10 companies took part in the tender, which was won by DOLSAR with 93.43 points. Other companies were disqualified on formal issues with their documentation.
DOLSAR will supervise and monitor the implementation of the concession agreement and other contracts between the Albanian state and the Catalyst consortium for a period of 5 years. The Catalyst consortium became concession holder in December 2016.
The consortium will be responsible for the construction of a bridge across the Drin river and finish several unfinished segments of the highway between Milot and Morina. It will also be obligated to install the necessary traffic signs and maintain the highway for 30 years. In exchange, the company will be allowed to charge a toll fee of €5 per car.
According to the agreement with Catalyst, the state will pay €5 million per year for the first 13 years to compensate the consortium for the lack of traffic. So on top of the toll fee, the company will receive a maximum of €64.9 million from the state in the form of subsidies. This will bring the total cost of the concession to €66 million.
This brings the saga of the Albanian government to give the Rruga e Kombit with concession to an end. No less than four separate procurement procedures had been started, with the decisive and final winner including the Albanian company Salillari shpk, which shifted consortiums halfway through the process.
