In Tirana, students continue to divide their days between shifts, while installments for the school concession come one after another from the Municipality's budget. The Concessionary Company "ZMA" has received about 2.1 billion lek since the start of payments. During 2026 alone, four payments worth about 388 million lek were registered in the Treasury.
These are the payments to “ZMA”, one of the companies involved in the PPP project for 17 schools. The company is responsible for five educational facilities in the Tirana 1 area. According to Open Spending from Albania, the payments for them are presented as investment and maintenance costs. But the published picture does not answer the questions that matter to citizens, how much was paid for each facility, what works were carried out and how the final invoice was formed?
The winning bid for the Tirana 1 area was around 1.6 billion lek excluding VAT, while the payments recorded for the “ZMA” have exceeded 2 billion lek. The difference requires a full explanation from the Municipality, which must explain what is included in this amount and how the payments are related to investment, maintenance and contract addenda.
The promise was that the construction of new schools would put an end to double-shift teaching. But for the 2026–2027 school year, 20 schools in Tirana will continue with double shifts, five less than a year ago. Meanwhile, out of the 17 planned facilities, according to published data, nine have been completed. The temporary education tax, collected for this project, brought the Municipality about 6.98 billion lek by the end of 2025. Schools were promised as a solution, double shifts continue to be a reality in the capital. Even Astir, an area with a growing population, is still waiting for the school that has been promised to its residents for years.
In the concession company “ZMA”, the main shareholder is AGI KONS, with 86.95% of the capital. The beneficial owner of AGI KONS is Gentjan Sula, who is a defendant in the same case as Erion Veliaj. SPAK accuses Sula of active corruption, on behalf of AGI KONS, while Veliaj is accused of passive corruption, among other things, in relation to alleged benefits from this company. The case has been sent to trial.
According to the prosecution, the companies included in the file are suspected of having obtained construction permits and public funds from the Municipality led by Veliaj, while irregular benefits are suspected of having passed to persons and entities linked to the mayor's family. In one of the episodes mentioned in the file, investigators have raised suspicions about 115 thousand euros given as a down payment in a transaction involving Veliaj's wife, Ajola Xoxa. These are allegations of the prosecution, which are being examined in court. Meanwhile, AGI KONS owns the vast majority of the company that continues to receive payments for schools.
MET-ENGENEERING also has shares in ZMA, with 12.9% owned by Gazment Metohu. The registry history shows that this company was also owned by businessman Gentian Sula, after allegedly buying it in 2017 from Metohu. But the donation was revoked in January 2018 and the shares were returned to Metohu, the same year that the ZMA company was founded, which would receive the concession from the Municipality of Tirana.
The third shareholder, ZENIT&CO, owns 0.15% of the concessionaire. The company, previously known as “Zenit-06”, was owned by Rexhep Tarba. In January 2019, he sold 100% of the shares to his wife, Luiza Tarba, for 100 thousand lekë. A year earlier, Rexhep Tarba was sent to trial in the case of the works on Gjinari Road, where he was accused of abuse of office as a works supervisor; “Zenit-06” also appeared in the same file.
Thus, in a public contract that continues to receive money from the Municipality, the majority of the shares are owned by the company of a businessman accused in Veliaj's case, while Veliaj himself is also a defendant in that process. Meanwhile, 20 schools continue with two shifts and Astiri is still waiting for its school. How much of the 2.1 billion lek has been returned to functional classrooms, and where is the statement that links each payment to each work? This answer must be provided by the Municipality of Tirana, with documents on payments, works and deadlines, not just the mayor's artificial intelligence statements from the Fier prison.
