The Durrës Waterworks is bankrupt, it has over 160 million euros in debt

Misadministration has led to bankruptcy of the Durrës Water Company (UKD), one of the most supported with loans and grants from donors.

The decision to liquidate the company was made on May 15 of this year after the company of the coastal city was in debt and had no assets, it is stated in the report that the Assembly of Shareholders of the Company made about the bankruptcy.

Data from the balance sheet show that UKD's losses doubled last year, reaching over 1 billion lek, approximately 10 million euros, from 535 million lek (5 million euros) in 2021, according to the data reported in the balance sheet. official submitted to the National Business Center.

The company's performance has worsened over the last year when total liabilities reached 16 billion ALL, more than 150 million euros with an 11 percent increase compared to 2021, while the capital was negative of 2.8 billion ALL, showing a very poor condition. financial burden.

The Auditors' report shows how the situation is more serious than the data in the balance because the company has not kept provisions.

The Municipality of Durrës was the main shareholder and now, the responsibility for the water supply of the city of Durrës will pass to the Durres Regional Water and Sewerage Company, where its shareholders are the Municipality of Durres, Kruja, Kurbin, Shijak and Vora.

All the obligations of the Durrës water supply will be transferred to SHRUKD, but in the meantime, the Durres water supply enterprise has important systems with negative effects on other state enterprises.

The Ministry of Finance reported earlier that UKD owes OSSHE 4.3 billion (40 million euros) in unpaid invoices until May 2023. Data from the balance sheet show that liabilities in the form of borrowing are over 308 million ALL, while other liabilities of the company are about ALL 7.9 billion.

"Furthermore, after examining the balance sheet of 2022, it was concluded that UKD no longer has any assets," says the report on the liquidation of the company published in the KKB.

The auditors' opinion on the 2022 balance sheet issued criticism towards the administration of UKD. Commenters noted that they do not reconcile the accounting program's year-end customer balance data with the customer balance resulting from the billing system. Also, the company has not foreseen depreciations for the year 2022 and therefore there is an inaccuracy in the balance sheet. The auditors noticed that the state of obligations held by Durrës Waterworks no longer matched the data of the General Directorate of Taxes.

The Durrës Waterworks is one of the enterprises most financed by donors due to its importance, among other things, for the development of tourism. In 2013, the World Bank approved a loan of 85.3 million US dollars to Albania, for investments in Ujësjellës, the sewerage of Durrës. The IBRD loan of 85.3 million US dollars for the Investment Project for the Water Sector in Albania was aimed at improving the existing water supply and sewerage network in the region of Durrës, the second largest city of the country and one of the main destinations tourist center of the country, as well as the main port of Albania.

While in the fall of last year, the 60 million euro agreement was signed for the financing of the Durrës Waterworks network, between the Albanian Government and the French Development Agency. After signing the agreement, Prime Minister Edi Rama said that this investment will enable the transformation of the city.