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"The company complained to the Dutch embassy!"/ Ola Xama explains the origins and failure of the tender for the port in Porto Romano
2026-03-12 22:42:04 / POLITIKË
Journalist Ola Xama, invited to the show "The Unexposed" on MCN TV, explained the origins of the tender for the new port in Porto Romano and its failure, following complaints from companies and the launch of investigations by SPAK.
"For the first time, the Porto Romano project, which is a new commercial port, began to be discussed in 2019 and 2020, when the government began negotiations with Mohamed Alabbar for the tourist marina in the Port of Durrës, an agreement that was concretized by the Parliament in 2022. In 2023, the joint company between the state and the private party was founded and the implementation of the housing project began. Already this year, the government announced the plan to build a new commercial port in the Porto Romano area, which would be the connecting bridge of Corridor 8.
There has been a lot of controversy from experts about whether the port should be in that area, since the port currently has a natural bay, it is larger in linear meters than in Porto Romano, but also in terms of width, it is 38 ha in Porto Romano and we have 80 ha in the Port of Durres, but also in terms of processing capacities, which makes it competitive with the region.
In 2023, the technical project began. In 2022, we heard some statements from the Minister of Infrastructure and Rama, who said that the new port will be strategic for NATO and expressed interest in NATO. It was not seen that the alliance showed interest in investment and financing. Then, a meeting was held with international companies that would develop it with a concession, about 400 million euros, which costs for the first phase. Because for the second phase it could reach 1 billion euros.
Again, none of these companies showed interest. In the end, the government decided to intervene in the budget, spending 390 million euros for the construction. The tender was opened in July 2024. The first procedure was canceled, only one company paid a guarantee. It was opened again, 5 companies participated. The Chinese company was disqualified. A Belgian-French consortium was disqualified after not bringing the works it had carried out on a project in France, worth billions of euros, according to the consortium it had been, according to the rules in Albania. The Public Procurement Commission would not review it without paying 2 million euros. It could not do so for so many days.
There was also a Dutch company that was disqualified. Only a Cyprus-based company, Arkirodon, and a Dutch company remained. Both of these advanced to the stage where they could submit a financial offer.
The Dutch company was asked to make the equivalence of the licenses in time, in order to continue with the offer. It failed to make the equivalence, and there were even complaints, the company sent a letter to the Prime Minister, the Dutch embassy, which inquired with the port authority why they were creating an unfair disqualification.
"In conclusion, even after these attempts, the company is disqualified and only Arkirodon, a company registered in Cyprus, remains," Xama declared.
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