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What angered Edi Rama on the streets of Rome? The "140 million dollar contract" hidden behind that phone call is revealed

2025-11-19 09:23:13Aktualitet SHKRUAR NGA KLODIAN TOMORRI
Edi Rama in Rome

Klodian Tomorri

A week ago, Prime Minister Edi Rama was filmed furious on the streets of Rome, shouting at someone on the phone in harsh tones. ""What did you become co-chair for? To create obstacles. What did you put yourself as co-chair for? You have set us back a year. What kind of opposition are you doing there?"" Rama could be heard demanding an account on the phone.

As soon as the footage was broadcast, speculation began in Albania about who the prime minister was shouting at and what the issue was. Many speculated that Mr. Rama was shouting at Arbjan Mazniku, the co-chair of the Special Commission for Territorial Administrative Reform. Others said that the person on the other end of the phone was Damian Gjiknuri, the socialist co-chair of the Commission for Electoral Reform.

Agron Shehaj, the chairman of the Opportunity Party, went even further by publishing footage of Rama's phone call on his social networks with the comments that the prime minister wanted at all costs the electoral reform commission to convene as soon as possible.

"But why is the prime minister in such a hurry with electoral reform, when the electoral system is perfect for it? The reason is simple. Edi Rama wants a pretext to put his hands on the Constitution. He wants to use the electoral reform as a pretext to change the Constitution to seize justice," commented Shehaj.

But the King is done with politics, as he no longer counts on any opponents. Now he deals only with business.

Edi Rama spoke on the phone with two people that day, wandering the streets of Rome. These were the Deputy Minister of the Interior, Juljan Hodaj, and the head of IT at the State Police. Both of them are co-leaders of the working group that is negotiating the 140 million dollar contract for the so-called Smart City project.

$140 million without a contest

In March of this year, the government sent to Parliament for approval the draft law for the ratification of a $118 million loan that Albania will receive from the Abu Dhabi Fund. The debt, with a repayment period of 15 years and an interest rate of 4 percent per year, is being taken to go back to Abu Dhabi.

Because the $118 million will go to pay an Abu Dhabi company called Presight Al Ltd, which will carry out the traffic monitoring project with cameras in 20 cities in the country. The $118 million contract, which together with VAT amounts to $140 million, will be awarded without a tender and without any kind of competition, but by direct agreement.

So, to put it simply. The Albanian government will borrow 118 million dollars from the Arabs to pay back to the Arabs, while the Albanian citizens will be left with the burden of repaying the debt. These are the innovative financial instruments that the prime minister invents from his pilgrimages to the Arab world, when he visits the sultans of the East.

In Albania, this scheme was only carried out by microcredit fraudsters. They gave citizens loans, but only on paper. Because the money owed was immediately transferred back to the microcredit company's account. From this whole operation, the victim citizens did not touch a single lek, but there was only one effect. The debt they had to repay increased.

Hot potato

After the approval of the loan law, the government set up a special working group to negotiate the technical conditions of the project. The group is chaired by the IT director of the State Police and Deputy Minister of Finance Juljan Hodaj. But because the members of the working group are hesitant to sign the hot potato that Rama has served them, some of them had requested the opposition of the feasibility study, since it is a contract worth more than 100 million euros.

This is why from the streets of Rome, Rama shouted at Hodaj and the IT director at the Police on the phone, "What kind of opposition are you making that you have set us back a year?"

This is because the opposition to the feasibility study would set the Smart City project back a year. But apparently Edi Rama is in a hurry to close the big $140 million deal he negotiated in the Emirates as soon as possible, without any competition.

He even used the mafia incident of the murder of Gilmando Dani in Rinas for this rush. "The project of monitoring cities and national roads with intelligent cameras is a strategic project for the safety, cleanliness and security of parents in schools. If we had this system in place, the Rinas incident would have been solved in real time. But the problem is not in the solution; once the system exists, it effectively prevents all types of violations related to order, peace and traffic rules," said Edi Rama 3 days after the phone call, after he had returned to Albania.

$140 million for what?

But what is a Smart City? The project involves the provision and installation of artificial intelligence platforms for city and traffic management, in addition to an advanced control center.

The company will install 2,239 ANPR cameras, which perform automatic license plate recognition, as well as 2,602 PTZ cameras for traffic monitoring and identifying violations. In parallel, 3,816 body cameras will be installed for the police, as Sajmir Tahiri had previously installed, which will be connected to a centralized system for surveillance and rapid response.

"To improve road and highway safety, 100 intelligent radars and 100 noise sensors will be installed to monitor traffic speed and safety. This project will enable real-time monitoring and identification of vehicles circulating on road axes, considered of priority interest for the State Police, as well as at all border control points," the loan law states.

In parallel, the company will also offer professional and maintenance services for four years.

How much did you fry the chicken?

But how will the $140 million spent on this project be spent in detail? In the debt agreement, the government has also listed the cost components. A full $31 million will be paid for software licenses to be used. Hardware and infrastructure will cost $62.4 million.

Eight million dollars will go towards professional services and the remaining $17.1 million is maintenance for four years. This is all excluding VAT. If value added tax is added, the total cost comes to $140 million.

What angered Edi Rama on the streets of Rome? The "140 million dollar

Smart City cost components

This is a project with extraordinary cost inflation. Eight million dollars for professional services alone and $62.5 million to purchase 8,000 ANPR and PTZ cameras. The latter are easily available on the market at prices ranging from $500 to $1,500 apiece.

But whenever there is no competition, inflated costs are to be expected. This is a very big business, probably conceived and agreed upon at the prime minister's Arab pilgrimage dinners. Citizens will now bear the brunt and pay every last penny of the $118 million debt plus 4 percent interest per year for 15 years.

Big money and big bargain. While Marta Kos and Kaja Kallas shake heads in Brussels, Albania gives 140 million dollars without a tender. And the scheme is always the same. The Sultan gives the order, while the suicide bombers below sign. / kapitali.al


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