The Municipality of Bulqiza announced the winner of an auction for the use of an area of 21 hectares from the forest/pasture fund in the village of Lubalesh, Gjorica Administrative Unit, for the construction of a park with wind turbines and photovoltaic panels.
According to documents published by the Public Procurement Agency, the auction was held on February 23, 2026, through an open procedure, and its object was the provision of land for the construction of renewable energy production infrastructure, including stations, foundations and supporting facilities. The contract for this auction was concluded on March 9.
The initial auction price was 176 thousand lek per hectare per year, which for the area of 21 hectares amounted to about 3.69 million lek per year. The winning bid was announced at 3,698,100 lek per year.
The winner of the auction was announced as the entity “Balla Energy Group” sh.pk, headquartered in the city of Bulqiza and fully owned by Artan Balla. It turns out that only one economic operator participated in the procedure.
The procedure for granting use of areas from the forest and pasture fund through auction is regulated by the legislation on public property administration and the relevant decisions of the Council of Ministers. According to these rules, the auction must be conducted as an open and transparent procedure, where the local authority publishes a notice in advance in the Bulletin of Public Notices and in the official communication channels of the municipality or the Municipal Council, clearly defining the object, area, location, initial value and conditions of use of the property.
However, in this case, there does not appear to have been a public announcement on the communication channels of the Municipality or the Municipal Council about the opening of the auction.
The practice of auctions for public lands
The allocation of land from the forest and pasture fund for energy projects has become a repeated practice by the Bulqizë Municipality. In previous cases, the municipality has argued these procedures by referring to meetings organized with residents for public consultation, where plans for the use of land for energy projects were discussed.
In October 2025, the Bulqizë Municipality held a public hearing in just 25 minutes and with the overwhelming presence of the administration of this institution, where it presented the plan for the auctioning of a large number of parcels from the forest and pasture fund.
According to the Forestry Directorate, it involved 52 plots spread across several areas of the municipality, including Ramnagore, Luçan-Batër, Thekë, Sheshe Bulqizë, Klenjë, Okshtun-Prodan, Zerqan and Shupenza. Local authorities announced that these areas, considered forest economy or unproductive pastures, could be given for use for various economic projects such as livestock stables, tourist guesthouses or photovoltaic parks.
During the presentation, the plots were presented only with identification numbers, without providing full details about their surface area, boundaries or current land use. This caused concerns from some residents, who called for more transparency and detailed information about the plots that could be auctioned.
Auctions have continued, while no public hearings have been held in the administrative units to date for lands affected by such investments.
At that meeting, the few residents present also raised doubts about the possibility of overlapping some land parcels that they consider to be traditionally used by the community. According to them, in many villages, forest and pasture lands have been used by families for generations, even though they do not have ownership certificates.
The way the public consultation was organized was also criticized during the hearing. Some participants and members of the Municipal Council demanded that the consultations be held directly in the affected areas and with a clear presentation of the plots on the map, warning that the lack of full consultations could create conflicts with residents in the future.
The auction for the area in Lubalesh is not the only case of this kind in the territory of the Bulqiza Municipality. In previous periods, similar procedures have been developed for the allocation of areas from the forest and pasture fund for energy projects.
One of them is the auction for an area of 85.9 hectares in the village of Melcu, in the Martanesh Administrative Unit, which took place in early 2026 for the construction of wind turbines and the installation of photovoltaic panels, along with their supporting stations and facilities.
According to data published in the Public Procurement Bulletin, the auction was announced on December 31, 2025 with an initial value of 132 thousand lek per hectare per year, while the procedure took place on January 26, 2026 at the premises of the Bulqiza Municipality. It turns out that only one economic operator participated in this procedure, the company "ALB-ML Solar Energy Investment" sh.pk, which was declared the winner with a bid of 11,467,600 lek.
Similar to the auction for the area in Lubalesh, the procedure in this case was conducted with a very limited number of participants. Such procedures for granting use of public areas from the forest and pasture fund provide that the auctions be announced publicly and conducted in an open manner to guarantee competition and transparency in the selection of investors who will use these properties.
Editorial
