A few weeks ago an independent investigative report from a regional media revealed that a company that enjoys the status of strategic touristic investor has benefited from public funds to bring not only the road to its prestigious villa community in the south but also to build a helipad!
Public funds at the service of VIP wealthy villa owners to enjoyed the public beach in the Albanian south without facing any traffic on the way there!
There is another equally revealing anecdote about the same large business group who consulted with an international bank to get a loan to build a mall. Prompted by the bank people to say how they were going to deal with the fact that there were nor ads leading to this mall, the famous answer from the big boss, the investor was: tell them all roads will lead to the mall!
The mall is now indeed at the very intersection of all key capital roads!
These come to mind in the latest news about the reconfirming of the abolishment of the minerals rent- tariff imposed to the companies that make a profit by using the national assets of the country such as minerals, oil and natural gas. The law that made this tariff from 15 percent to zero, was returned to the Parliament by the President’s institution.
The arguments for its return were clear: local governments can benefit significantly from the funds gathered form the tariffs’ collection. They apply to the state and get grants based on these sums, grants that build schools and health centers, roads and tourist info points. With this goes yet another chance to return a part of the profits that go to the few back to the community which was supposed to enjoy some sort of wellbeing from those national natural assets in the first place.
The Albanian state, as other experts have proved, is now captured by the deeper procedure of tailor made laws (TI)[1]. It is not enough to infringe laws to service the favored oligarchs. The laws themselves need to be designed in a way that they fully foresee all details and protect the strategic investors showering them with privileges and shielding them from any accountability.
As the PP investors continue to carve up large amounts of public finances annual and skyscrapers in Tirana race to join the clouds, the citizens can only brace themselves for the third mandate which has not even started.
[1] https://www.transparency.org/en/publications/deconstructing-state-capture-in-albania-an-examination-of-grand-corruption-cases-and-tailor-made-laws-from-2008-to-2020
