17 minutes agoMinister Lekaj clarifys the issue of 63 million wanted by Bechtel Enka
Periskopi(8 years ago)
(8 years ago)One of the themes most talked about during the end of 2017 was the 63m euros that Bechtel Enka is asking for some delays regarding the construction of the Arben Xhaferi highway. Minister of Infrastructure, Pal Lekaj is accusing the LDK's governance of these debts. But Lekaj in an interview for [...]
Minister of Infrastructure, Pal Lekaj is accusing the LDK's governance of these debts.
But Lekay in a news interview.net said he'd try to find an ideal solution with the company in question.
The fact is that the former government, except that it has been negligible, has been brought in and displayed insincerely with partners and contractors who have done work in all sectors of the most infrastructure. One such case is with contractor Bechtel & Enka, which is performing works on the second highway in Kosovo, at that “Arba Xhaferi” connecting Kosovo with Macedonia. Three years ago, the former government has agreed that it needs to extend the contract to complete the work on this road segment, due to the inability to pay off financial obligations. They have agreed on about 15m euros that will cost that extension. Then they haven't carried out any of this obligation, and at the same time total, during these three years of misgovernance, have been delayed in payments of nearly 60 per cent, if not more, this has meant reducing the pace of work by contractor and increasing penalty risk for the same”, Lekaj said.
“Every penalty for Kosovo from B&E meant about 40 thousand euros a day of condemnation for Kosovo and its small budget, for those three years the penalty would mean even about half a billion euros in damages to the state budget. The 63 million demand is as the form of compensation for the company for its inability to work, from the irresponsability of the former government, which has not done its obligations to it, but at the same time ignored the confronting of”, says the minister of Infrastructure.
But what I want to point out is that this 63 is not yet a done deal, because B&E has made its own accounts, and after we do our analysis, together with the friendly company and the experts at the Ministry of Infrastructure, we're going to sit down and talk about the possibility of reaching a compromise, which we believe a lot of”, is over with Pal Lekaj.
