Government assists KESH finance electricity imports
Uncategorized Tuesday, January 23rd, 2007
"We have agreed to procure a Lek 2 billion (USD 20 million) loan to KESH sh.a", Minister of Finance Mr. Ridvan Bode announced, adding that the government had ensured that KESH's commitments would be fulfilled regularly.
This is the government's second attempt within a month to finance parts of KESH's electricity import expenditures. In late December, the government had reallocated USD 15 million to pay off the electricity bills of water utility companies.
The opposition has expressed doubts about the legality of these decisions. Andis Harasani, Socialist Party member and former KESH general manager, said that such financing goes against the market development strategy approved by World Bank, which is KESH's largest lender.
A week earlier the World Bank Office in Albania halted financing for KESH sh.a., in order to exercise pressure on the corporation to fulfill its financial and technical requirements.
According to World Bank, during 2006, KESH was mismanaged resulting in the revenue and technical losses targets not being met.
The 2006 revenue target was to collect 88.4% of bills; meanwhile only 79.6% of bills were collected. Technical losses, including the illegal use of electricity, stood at 34.4% from the projected target of 31.7%.
This is the first time since 1998 when World Bank halted financing for KESH sh.a.
Short URL: http://www.albanianeconomy.com/news/?p=199
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on Jan 23 2007. Filed under Uncategorized.
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