Municipal cleaning tenders have turned into a financial bloodbath of public money through a dirty game, which has three companies at its center. They are Alko Impex of Arbër Abazit, Fusha shpk of Shkëlqim Fusha, and Rej shpk of Luan Kapri.
Kapitali consulted the documentation of the cleaning tenders of a number of municipalities in Albania. The scheme is clear. The three companies appear to be in open agreement with each other, offering bids with minimal differences from the limit fund and from each other.
In technical language, this scheme is known as collusion, a situation where several companies secretly cooperate with each other to increase the prices of public works.
Shkelqim Fusha and Arber Abazi
But as the Competition Authority seems to lack the capacity to investigate this abuse of tens of millions of euros of citizens' money, Albania must find a solution to escape from the 3 cleaning ticks, which play in coordination with each other.
Tender for the cleaning of Himara
In April of this year, the Municipality of Himara held a tender for the cleaning of the administrative units of Himara, Hora-Vranisht. The tender fund limit was set at 256.5 million lek or about 2.65 million euros. 4 companies participated in the competition.
The company "Pastrime Silvio" offered the value of 253.8 million lekë, but this offer was in vain as the company did not meet the turnover criterion. The trick lay in the other three offers.
Alko Impex of Arbër Abazit offered 254.3 million lekë. Rej shpk of Luan Kapri offered 255.3 million lekë, while Fusha shpk of Shkëlqim Fusha offered 255.9 million lekë. Alko Impex was declared the winner of the tender with 254.3 million lekë or 99.1 percent of the limit fund.
Company Offer mln lek % of fund limit
Silvio Cleaning 253.8 98.9%
Alko Impex 254.3 99.1%
Cloud 255.3 99.5%
Field 255.9 99.8%
And if this tender may seem like a coincidence, there are others coming after it.
Tender for the cleaning of Golem
Two months after the tender for the cleaning of Himara, another tender was opened in the field of cleaning. This was the procurement of cleaning services for the administrative unit of Golem, carried out by the Municipality of Kavaja. Three offers were submitted in the tender with a limit fund of 331.1 million lek or 3.4 million euros.
The first was from Alko Impex Construction with 329.1 million. The second offer was from Fusha shpk with 330 million, while the third offer was from Rej shpk with 330.4 million lek.
Company Offer mln lek % of fund limit
Alko Impex 329.1 98.8%
Fusha Ltd. 330 99.1%
Cloud 330.4 99.2%
In this case, Alko Impex was again declared the winner with 99.4 percent of the limit fund.
Tender for the cleaning of Saranda
On July 2, it was the turn of the Municipality of Saranda to hold a city cleaning tender. The limit fund for this tender was set at 131.6 million lekë or 1.35 million euros.
Two offers were submitted in the competition. The first was that of Alko Impex with 128.7 million lekë. While the second offer was that of Rej shpk with 130.1 million lekë.
Company Offer mln lek % of fund limit
Alko Impex 128.7 97.8%
Rej shpk 130.1 98.9%
The winner was again Alko with 97.8 percent of the limit fund.
Tender for the cleaning of Pogradec
In August, it was the turn of a bigger deal. It was the tender for the cleaning of Pogradec with a fund limit of 436.3 million lek or 4.5 million euros.
Three bids were submitted in this competition. The first bid was from Rej shpk with 430 million lek. The second bid was from Alko Impex with 431.1 million lek, while the third bid was from Korsel with 433.4 million lek.
Companies Offer mln ALL % of fund limit
Rej shpk 430 98.6
Alcohol 431.1 98.8
Corsel 433.4 99.3
The carousel horses simply changed places and the winner was declared Rej shpk and Luan Kapri with 430 million lek, or 98.5 percent of the limit fund.
Tender for the cleaning of Dimal
On September 22, the Municipality of Dimal held a tender for the cleaning of the city. The limit fund was set at 127.3 million lekë. Three bids were submitted in this tender. Fusha shpk entered into a joint venture with Ed Konstruksion and submitted a bid of 102.4 million lekë.
The second offer was from Rej with 118.5 million lek and the third was from the permanent Alko Impex with 127.3 million lek or at the top of the limit fund.
Company Offer mln ALL % of fund limit
Fusha & Ed Kons 102.4 80.4%
Cloud 118.5 93.1%
Alcohol 127.3 100%
The competition was won by the merger of operators Fusha and Ed Konstruksion, this time with economic savings of 80.5 percent of the limit fund.
Tender for the cleaning of Elbasan
The last in line is the tender for the cleaning of the city of Elbasan. The procurement procedure took place on October 10, while the preliminary winner was announced only this Friday.
In the tender for the cleaning of Elbasan, with a limit fund of 314.6 million lekë or about 3.25 million euros, three permanent competitors participated. The first was Alko Impex with a bid of 311.9 million lekë. The second bid was from Fusha shpk with 313.8 million lekë and the third bid was from Rej shpk with 314 million lekë.
The preliminary winner of the tender was once again Alko Impex, with 99.1 percent of the limit fund.
Company Offer mln ALL % of fund limit
Alko Impex 311.9 99.1%
Fusha Ltd. 313.8 99.7%
Rej shpk 314 99.8%
Alko Impex has established a near-monopoly on cleaning services throughout Albania, benefiting hundreds of millions of euros from municipal budgets. This is thanks to suspicions of a coordinated game between a handful of companies, especially Fusha shpk and Rej.
Suspicions of collusion and coordinated play are also heightened by the fact that Alko Impex and Fusha have won several tenders in partnership in the past.
In all the cleaning tenders, these three companies enter with offers with insignificant differences from each other according to a carousel scheme, which changes the horses of the cart. Alko takes the absolute majority, while Rej and Fusha divide the territories that Arbër Abazi leaves free.
Editorial
