Author: Dallandyshe Xhaferri
For two years, four municipalities in the country have benefited from financial support for the reconstruction of youth and cultural centers and libraries, but the deadlines for the implementation of the project were not respected. It turns out that more than 19 million lek funds for the municipalities of Tirana, Elbasan, Lezha and Roskovec were distributed by the National Youth Agency according to a project that announced them as winners in November 2021.
A research by "Sinjalizo" shows that so far, only the Roskovec municipality has finalized the project for the "Reconstruction of the Roskovec Public Library and the creation of the Youth Book Club".
The National Youth Agency admits to “Sinjalizo” that “Elbasan Municipality and Tirana Municipality have completed the project and AKR is in the process of reviewing the final reports regarding the progress of these projects .” However, AKR refused to make available the project proposals with which these municipalities competed two years ago, being declared the winners out of the 29 municipalities participating in the call.
For this project where the local government was declared the winner in the first call, it turns out that the municipality of Lezha, beneficiary of the fund of 8,541,077.6 lek, has requested an extension of the deadline for finalizing the project beyond the project limit. “The Municipality of Lezha is still in the process of reconstructing the building and has requested an extension of the project until July 2023,” AKR’s response reads. In the documents made public by this municipality, it turns out that 90% of the winning fund for the reconstruction of the Youth Center building has been received, while it is emphasized that “AKR bears no responsibility for damages or complaints caused by/and through the project.”
According to the contract signed between AKR and this municipality on February 28, 2022, the works on the building should have been completed 3 months ago, but in a response to "Sinjalizo" the Lezhë municipality reiterates that "the deadline for completing the works is in July 2023" without giving a reason for its postponement.
Violated municipal contracts
According to the data made public by AKR, it turns out that the Municipality of Roskovec is the winner of the fund of 1,905,443 lek for the reconstruction of the public library, while Open Procurement shows that this municipality has opened a tender worth 1,587,869 lek. This tender was won by “ Shendelli” shpk with the most successful bid of approximately 1.3 million lek. The Municipality of Roskovec has officially announced to “Sinjalizo” that the project has been postponed by only one month. “The project has been postponed by only 1 month for which a written request was made to the donor AKR according to Article 13 of the Contract. The postponement occurred due to weather conditions that delayed the painting of the facade”, - it is written in the response.
The Mayor of Tirana, Erjon Veliaj, signed with AKR the contract for the reconstruction of the Petrela Youth Cultural Center on December 3, 2021. According to public data, this municipality won the fund of 3,186,489 lek, while for the reconstruction of the Cultural Center in Petrela, it opened the competition for the tender on July 27 of last year, which goes up to the value of 5,024,847 new lek. This tender is considered "red flagged" by Open Procurement after it was won without competition by "LTE CONSTRUCTION" shpk. Although the contract between the Municipality of Tirana and this economic operator has a duration of 4 months, this cultural center has not yet been opened for young people, while it should have started its activity in November 2022.
Unlike other municipalities, the municipality of Elbasan has won the fund of 5,503,842 lek with the “Talent Start-up Elbasan2” project, foreseeing the purchase of technological equipment. The aim of this project, initially implemented in 2020 with funds from IADSA MC , is to develop technological skills for young people and children. But even today, 19 months after the signing of the AKR agreement with the mayor, Gledjan Llatja, on November 8, 2021, these devices are not accessible to young people.
To the question of "Sinjalizo" about the precedent of non-completion of the project on time by the municipalities, what is the policy followed by AKR to ensure the full implementation of the projects, this institution responds that "Non-completion according to the initial deadline set in the project proposal is followed by AKR by evaluating case by case the requests for postponement sent by the municipalities as well as the objective reasons that have caused these delays" - it is stated in the response, adding , - "always keeping in mind the principle of efficient use of funds and the highest interest of young people. For this reason, AKR has also established working groups that follow and monitor the progress of projects in the field."
From the research of "Sinjalizo" it results that in the second call of AKR there were no shortage of delays in the start of works by the municipalities. In the call opened on August 19 last year, the maximum fund that the municipalities could win amounted to 10 million new lek, meanwhile out of 30 municipalities that participated in the competition, only five won: the Municipality of Durrës, Gjirokastra, Lushnja, Dibra and Kamza.
Data shows that the Municipality of Durrës has obtained a new fund of 10 million lek with the project "Reconstruction of the Multifunctional Youth Center of Durrës".
But this municipality confirms to "Sinjalizo" the reasons why the project implementation was delayed. "There were delays in publishing the tender in the tender system as the details of the technical specifications for the reconstruction of the QRM have also led to delays in the closing of the procedures, this is because the details of the technical specifications need to be done according to the technical requirements and criteria for the reconstruction" , - it is announced in the response, while adding that "The duration of the project is 12 months, this means that the completion is expected at the end of this year".
From the public data of Open Procurement, it results that the value of this 'red flag' tender is 9,425,926 lekë, while 6 economic operators out of 7 competitors were excluded.
On January 20 of this year, the municipality of Gjirokastra was also announced the winner in the second call, which applied with the project for the construction of a Multifunctional Youth Center that will also include a cinema. According to data from Open Procurement , this municipality opened the tender with a value of 7,601,743 lek on May 26 of this year, while the winner will be announced on June 5.
Projects for young people, but they are not employed
In the presentation of the First National Youth Strategy on the official website of the Minister of State for Youth and Children, it is quoted that "The Youth Strategy aims to improve the situation of young people in Albania by offering them equal opportunities with European youth, creating opportunities for quality education and inclusion in the Albanian and international labor markets."
The Minister of State for Youth and Children explains to "Sinjalizo" that "the National Internship Program makes it possible for young people to gain a qualifying experience", adding that "the program enables them to get acquainted with state administration institutions and other public or private institutions".
According to the data that this institution shows to "Sinjalizo", only 34% of the young people who participated in the sixth call of the Employment Program managed to be employed in the host institutions.
"In the Sixth Call of the National Internship Program, 572 young people completed internships and 196 of them were employed in the host institutions," the response states.
Klea is one of the students who, after completing her bachelor's studies, turned to the National Work Internship Program, after applying in which she was able to practice for 4 months in the state administration.
She says that she was paid half the salary of the employees in the administration, while she was not trained for the work in the administration before.
"The coordination was fine since we were divided from the beginning into groups and the places where we would work, a little in doubt about the tasks we would do in the workplace knowing that we are young and don't have much idea about working in the institution. So we want a training period, which the time period did not allow," the student concludes under the condition of anonymity.
