The show Në Shënjestër on News24, in a documentary broadcast on the new port of Porto Romano, presented an extensive overview of the tenders conducted so far, as well as the construction costs and doubts about the companies involved.
The story begins in June 2021, when the Durrës Port Authority opened the tender for the drafting of the detailed technical project of the new commercial port in Porto Romano, with a limit fund of about 11 million euros excluding VAT.
14 companies and operator associations participated in the competition, while the winner was the association: “Haskoning DHV Nederland BV & Adec Engineering Consultancy LLC & Abkons Sh.PK & Taulant Sh.PK & Geo-Eng Sh.PK”, with a bid of 11.4 million euros including VAT. The contract was signed on December 24, 2021.
Six months later, the Durrës Port Authority added about 3 million euros to the contract, bringing the total design value to 13.6 million euros including VAT. According to explanations at the time, this was related to a request from the US for the inclusion of an autonomous naval base for the Albanian Naval Force, in function of cooperation with NATO.
The tender was considered a “red flag” due to the disqualification of competing operators, including the lowest bid. Meanwhile, the winning companies delivered the project within a shorter deadline than expected.
The main company was Haskoning DHV Nederland BV, owned by Royal Haskoning. According to the data, this company also had a branch in Albania, registered in 2008 and closed in 2018.
The balance sheets show that this branch was placed under tax seizure in 2015 for non-payment of obligations, and subsequently suspended its activity and entered liquidation. Meanwhile, there are no declared liabilities, despite a turnover of several million euros per year, raising questions about tax evasion.
The winners included “Adec Engineering Consultancy” from the United Arab Emirates, as well as “Abkons”, owned by a company linked to Besnik Leskaj. Also included were “Taulant Shpk” and “Geo-Eng”.
Although the contract had been signed, the project was only publicly presented by Prime Minister Edi Rama and Deputy Prime Minister Belinda Balluku a year later. The construction of the first phase was expected to cost around 393 million euros, while according to other sources, the total cost of the project could reach up to 2 billion euros.
However, to date, construction work in Porto Romano has not started and the tender for the construction has faced problems. The Belgian company "Jan De Nul" was disqualified and its appeal was dismissed by the Public Procurement Commission, while the case continues in court.
Only "Archirodon Construction" remained in the race, a company registered in Cyprus, about which suspicions have been raised of indirect links to other questionable companies.
In parallel, the government authorized direct negotiations for the supervision of the project with the company Royal Haskoning, worth around 12 million euros, a procedure whose legality has been questioned.
Another cost is that of expropriations, which amounts to about 8 million euros. In total, about 41.3 million euros have been spent so far on design, supervision and expropriations. The Porto Romano project is under investigation by SPAK, while the opposition has requested the establishment of a parliamentary investigative commission, a request that has been rejected. Meanwhile, the project continues to be considered a major strategic investment, but without concrete implementation yet.
