Renegotiation of PPP Concession Contracts, Additions and Amendments January 2017 – April 2021

Open Data Albania is researching on Concession and Public Private Partnership PPP contracts terminated or repealed during the period January 2017- April 2021.  The renegotiation coincides with the Amendment of the Contract or Concession Agreement. Such changes made by renegotiation may affect elements such as the Object, Parties, Terms, Conditions, or the Value of the Contract. In certain cases, changes and renegotiations may affect more than one of the elements mentioned.

This article highlights PPP Concessions which have undergone changes during the four years of the Government Mandate 2017 – April 2021.  The Concession Register database created by the AIS organization contains data and documents for all concession companies. This database is part of the Open Corporates Albania Portal.

There are nine Concessions that in the reporting period have been renegotiated and amended. Two of them have been renegotiated twice in this period. They are: a. PPP Concession for the Construction and Administration of the Urban Waste Plant of Fier Region and the production of energy with the implementing company Integrated Technology Waste Treatment Fier sh.p.k; and b. The Concession for Construction, operation and transfer of an MBM port in Porto Romano, Durrës, with implementing company Port MBM sh.pk

There have been more renegotiations of concessions during 2020. Five concession contracts have been amended this year. Also in January – April 2021, two PPP Concession Agreements were renegotiated.

Rinas Airport is a concession implemented by the concession company Tirana International Airport sh.p.k On December 1, 2020, the holding company Real Fortress Private Limited sold its entire shares in favor of the Albanian company Kastrati Group with a sale price of 71 million Euros . By Law no. 16/2021 dated February 8, 2021, approved by the Assembly, the Legislator increased the lifespan of the Concession by another thirteen years of operation. The term of the concession agreement became 35 years. The investment plan was also changed and the concessionaire company will make an additional investment in the amount of about 99 million Euros, for the Airport Infrastructure.

The object of the concession activity was changed in the Concession for building, using, and transferring an MBM port in Porto Romano, Durrës, a contract implemented by the concession company MBM Port, an investment worth 1 280 814 000 ALL. From “processing of vessels transporting hydrocarbons of sizes over 20,000 tons” became “the activity of loading, unloading and processing of ships transporting other goods”. This contract is Approved by Law no. 58 in the Assembly on 30 April 2020, coinciding with the date on which the country was declared in a State of Natural Disaster.  This contract was changed once again during the period under review, by law in the Assembly in 2018, where it has undergone changes in the value of the investment due to changes in the actual situation on the ground.

The PPP Concession for financing, establishing, and operating the container scanning service of other vehicles in the Republic of Albania, with the concession company S2 Albania sh.pk has been renegotiated as a result of the situation of the Covid-19 Pandemic. The parties have agreed to postpone the payment of installments of the concession agreement for the months of September, October, November 2020, as well as the postponement of the payment of the overdue installment of August, without penalties or interest on these installments. These payments will be made by the Contracting Authority from 1 January – 31 December 2022. For this postponement, the Albanian state must pay an additional 3 354 859 Euros in 2022. So, the State Budget must pay in total together with the regular annual installment the amount of 16 591 598 Euros.

The PPP Concession for the construction and administration of the urban waste treatment plant of Fier Region and the production of energy with the concession company Integrated Technology Waste Treatment Fier sh.p.k has changed twice during the period under review. In 2017, the Renegotiation consisted of changing the location of the Incinerator construction site.  The second renegotiation took place with the Agreement between the parties dated 11 September 2020, which changed the deadline for the construction of the Urban Waste Treatment Plant in Fier Region and energy production, extending the deadline by eight months until March 31, 2021 as the final deadline.

Other concessions that have undergone changes or amendments are the contracts implemented by the concession companies mainly for the construction Hydropower Works for the companies implementing the concession: Kroi Mbret Energji sh.pk; Vokopola Energji sh.pk; HK Hec Grabova 2 sh.pk; and AYEN AS ENERJI sh.a.

If we consider the party that made the initial proposal for the renegotiation of the PPP concession contract, it is noticed that in fifty-five percent of the cases, the changes to the contracts have come from the Private Partner, while in forty-five percent of the cases these changes are proposed by the Contracting Authority.

Concession and PPP Contracts, in force, data, and Documents on Companies Registered for their Implementation, are published in an easily accessible and well-structured format under the OpenCorporates.al. portal, Concession Register Database. The Excel document of this article contains data and information on the basis of which the visualization is done. This document is easily downloadable and free to use. Other databases of the AIS Organization include; spending.data.al; OpenPocurement.al, and Open Corporates.al

This article was drafted and published in the framework of the “Open Data, Access and Transparency over sectors exposed to Risk of Corruption” project. The latter is financially supported by SIDA – Sweden International Development Cooperation Agency

Download excel: Renegotiation of PPP Concession Contracts, Additions and Amendments January 2017 – April 2021
Comment and Analysis: Open Data Albania
Translated by: Etleva Kondakçi