The Thuma-Kashar concession, how did the rooster make the egg Uni Ulaj? The road will be able to make at least 37 million euros a year.

Bashkim Ulaj started this Saturday to reap the fruits of the most generous concession ever given by Albanian governments in three and a half decades of transition. The origin of the concession of the Tumanë-Kashar road, although only 21 kilometers long is extended in 7-8 years time and all powers, including the judiciary, are included.

The judiciary is involved in a decision issued in 2021, where the Court of Appeal overturns a decision by the Ministry of Infrastructure that had annulled the concessionary contract. The appeal forces the ministry to pass the contract for approval at the government meeting... And so it was a year later, after the Government not only did not drop the contract, but did not even appeal it to the Supreme Court.

However, more than a clash between Gener 2 and the government, the Court of Appeals has been used as a mechanism to avoid possible legal liability for a concession allegedly alleged to be corrupt.

The origin of the concession and 'DH Albania'

In 2017, the Government started discussions on the construction of the Milot-Kashar Road as part of the 1 billion euro programme rolled out by Prime Minister Edi Rama during the 2017 election campaign. The discussions fragmented the segment, separately splitting the part from Kashari to Tumanë, with a length of 21 kilometers.

Depending on the size of the road, the number of lanes and the track it would pass through, the government estimated at that time the construction of the road with budgeted money with costs that amounted to 66 million euros at best and at worst 161 million euros.

A few months later the idea of building the road with the budget money was abandoned and it began to be reinforced with concession under the Public-Private Partnership scheme. In the spring of 2018, the unsubstated proposal of Gener 2 for the construction of the road with PPP is deposited in the Ministry of Finance. In the same period the race opened, where along with Gener 2 competed three other companies.

In July 2018, the Ministry of Infrastructure announces the disqualification of three other bids and the winning announcement of the Gener 2 bid, which proposed construction and maintenance of the road for 226 million euros. The other three bids were qualified on the grounds that they were higher than the maximum project value, which at the time the Ministry of Infrastructure estimated at 245 million euros.

After the end of the race, Gener 2 founded the G2 Infra concession company. The companies start talks with the Ministry of Infrastructure and the Albanian Road Authority on drafting the contract, project and starting works.

But talks and the passage of the contract for approval in the government were quickly cut short. In the autumn of 2018, the scandal of DH Albania, the company that won 30 million euros in the Big Ring with forged documents, broke.

DH Albania was declared the winner for the construction of the joint in the former Eagle Square and of a few hundred meters on the axis from the Arrow Palace to the former Eagle Square. In Albania, this company was officially introduced as the branch of the company 'Dunwell Haberman', registered in Delaware, USA.

Representative of this company in Tirana, according to data that was reflected in the Business Registration Center resulted 26-year-old Avdjol Dobi. A month after winning the tender in the Great Ring, Dobi relocates the offices of DH Albania to the ABA Business Center, owned by Bashkim Ulaj.

Suspicions that behind the attempt to obtain 30 million euros worth of counterfeit documentation was Union Ulaj were reinforced after the discovery by Voice of America that Avdjol Dobi has family ties with Bashkim Ulajn and that the balances deposited at the KCC of DH Albania were translated by a Gener 2 employee, who at the time was not part of the official translators of the Ministry of Justice.

But the DH Albania scandal only delayed the concession of Tduman-Kashar. In May 2022, using as an alibi the decision of the appeal court, which overturned the decision of the Ministry of Infrastructure to annul the concession, the Government granted Union Ulaj the concession of life.

The government's insurance and guarantees

The concession fees are adjusted in the contract for a 35-year term with progressive increases. According to the contract, the cost of crossing on the road ranges from 2.5 euros for small vehicles, up to 12 euros for trucks and other heavy tonnage vehicles.

In addition, Gener 2 profits are also armoured from a 28 million euro fund that pledges to make available the Government in the first 8 years of the concession in case the turnover on the road is below the contract's projections.

This means that if gener 2 does not realize the revenues provided in the contract in the first year, the government will compensate the company with taxpayer money until this level is reached.

In total, Gener 2 is expected to receisce 1.3 billion euros in the 35 years of this concession. The figure translates to an average of 37 million euros a year revenue from crossing fees on this axis. To better understand gener 2 profit on this axis alone, it is enough to compare it with gener 2 profit in total, where for 2023, according to the financial statements that the company itself has deposited in the QKB is only 3 million euros.

©Copyright Vox News

This article is exclusive of Vox News, enjoys the copyright under the Law No. 35/2016, "On copyright and related rights". The article can be republished by other media only by citing Vox News and finally the source link is placed, otherwise any infringer shall be held liable under Article 178 of The Law No/ 35/2016.