Lack of transparency on Kosovo highway condemned

A Kosovo NGO is accusing the government of lack of transparency, on the grounds that the transport and economy ministries have still not revealed the price, contract or route of the Trans-Kosovo highway. In a report, the NGO, named FOL, said the transport ministry had refused its request to see the contract, replying that the document was "sensitive". The report, entitled “Transparency of Public Investment in Road Infrastructure," also claims there are discrepancies between the figures supplied by the ministries of transport and economy over the price of the highway.

The economy ministry's recent report for the European Commission claimed the road would cost around 883 million euro. The transport ministry had refused to confirm the figures supplied by its colleagues. “Another concern is the route of the highway, which remains unknown," Fidan Kalaja, a member of FOL, said. Kalaja added that there was no agreement between the two ministries over the involvement of local companies in building the highway. He said the transport ministry had announced at the start that the winner of the contract would be obliged to subcontract 30 per cent of the work to local companies. But the economy ministry's report to Brussels relied on different figures, saying local companies would get 40 per cent of the contractual work.

The winning consortium, Bechtel & Enka, offered more than 659 million euro to build the 117-km highway. Myzejene Selmani, former chair of parliament's commission on economy and transport, complained that the assembly was left in the dark concerning the project. "There was no debate in the assembly over the highway," Selmani said, following release of the NGO report. "I never saw the contract, although I headed the commission on transport in the assembly." FOL said doubts had also risen over the finances of the highway, as the government had not outlined its strategy to ensure the money was available.

According to the economy ministry, the highway will be paid for out of the state budget, a concession for the main airport and the sale of Kosovo's Post and Telecommunications company. But the government of Hashim Thaci has not yet formally approved a means to pay for the project.

News source: BalkanInsight link: article