The public waste management company in Elbasan, "Eco-Elb", has not paid over 2.7 million euros in bills and interest on behalf of the Electricity Distribution Operator.
“Eco-Elb” manages the “phantom incinerator”, a public work that cost Albanians over 30 million euros. The waste treatment plant with energy recovery, not only did not produce a single kilowatt/hour, but, on the contrary, has deepened debts to the public electricity production company, OSHEE.
A document consulted by "Boldnews.al" shows that the public company "Eco-Elb", which manages the waste field in the city of Elbasan since 2022, will have to repay exactly 268,816,320 new lek to OSHEE, which includes electricity obligations and late payment interest.
But what stands out most in the invoice issued by OSHEE is another fact, which raises suspicions of manipulation of financial balances. According to the document, unpaid electricity, in the amount of about 2.7 million euros, was invoiced to the concession company "Albtek Energy", owned by Stela Gugallja. She is a person who has been wanted for at least 5 years, following the investigations of the Special Prosecutor's Office into the "incendiary affair".
The company "Albtek Energy" won the concession contract with the Albanian government for the construction of the Elbasan landfill and incinerator in 2014. The contract had a 7-year term and ended in December 2021, just a few hours after the company was placed under seizure, as part of the investigations of the Special Prosecution Office.
In January 2022, the Municipality of Elbasan took over the landfill and the Skarco incinerator (out of operation). Subsequently, the public company "Eco-Elb" was created to manage the public work, with shareholders being the municipalities of the Elbasan district (Elbasan, Librazhd, Prrenjas, Belsh, Cërrik, Gramsh and Peqin). The company's administrator is Leli Kaja.
From the moment of taking over the landfill along with the waste incineration plant, everything has been transferred to the name of the company "Eco-elb" shpk. But, it seems that the administrator Leli Kaja, one of the closest associates of the mayor of Elbasan, Gledjan Llatja, has "forgotten" to change the name of the entity on the electricity bill.
And, for this reason, the concession company "Albtek Energy", which concluded the concession contract in December 2021, is found to be in debt to the Electricity Distribution Operator in the amount of 2.7 million euros, although the data shows that the unpaid electricity consumption belongs to the period when the landfill was managed by Leli Kaja's "Eco-Elb".
Edi Rama and Stela Gugallja
The invoice provided by "Boldnews.al" clearly shows that the majority of the electricity consumed and unpaid, from August 2022 to December 2023, at which time "Eco-Elb" had taken full control of the landfill (and the ghost incinerator).
Bianka Çopja: "Abusive tariffs", we are not instigating
With scandalous management, accompanied by frequent cases of indiscriminate and toxic waste burning and an incinerator that has not worked for a single day, the Municipality of Elbasan and "Eco-Elb" shpk have recently approached the city's Municipal Council to renew the one-year contract for the disposal of urban waste in the landfill.
In the draft decision, Mayor Llatja and the administrator of "Eco-Elb", Kaja, propose to the municipal councilors again the approval of the fee of 26 euros per ton of waste deposited in the landfill.
According to the proponents, this fee is necessary to cover operating costs in the waste field, which has long exceeded storage capacities.
The fee was considered completely abusive by the leader of the opposition municipal councilors, Bianka Çopja.
In a meeting held this Monday (March 2, 2026), Çopja declared that "the contract for the phantom incinerator, which is being presented for the fourth consecutive year, is extorting taxes from the citizens of Elbasan."
The Democratic councilor asked on what basis the financial study for this contract was drafted, while she did not receive any answer, since, like Mayor Llatja, he was not present at the meeting.
Bianka Çopja reminded the Elbasan municipality administration that incineration is not carried out, a fact that has been accepted by local leaders.
She also stressed that the 26 euro per ton fee is more than abusive. "The initial study for the Elbasan landfill and incinerator, approved by the Ministry of Infrastructure in 2014, predicted that the cost was 2,500 lek per ton, including incineration. While, without incineration, the cost turned out to be 1,100 lek per ton."
According to Çopja, "today we are in 2026, the population has decreased as a result of depopulation, incineration does not work and the main goal of the project is not being achieved. And the tariff is 2600 lek per ton, without incineration, based on a private expertise. How is this drastic increase justified and where is the financial logic for this established tariff?"
The Municipal Council did not vote on the approval of the new contract between the Municipalities of the Elbasan District and the company "Eco-Elb" at this Monday's meeting, postponing it to the next meeting.
Editorial
