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The government lied, the price of passports and identity cards does not decrease

2023-07-26 09:45:48Aktualitet SHKRUAR NGA REDAKSIA VOX
The government lied, the price of passports and identity cards does not decrease
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At the beginning of this year, the government announced the nationalization of the production of passports and identification documents by the French company Allied. Former interior minister Bledi Çuçi stated that the biometric IDs would be produced by the state company IdentiTek, while he explained that with the transition of this service from the private to the state, there will also be an opportunity to review their price.

"Politically, we have the will to repair the price in order to lower it", emphasized Çcuçi.

The production of passports was nationalized. The expensive concession of the French, which was taken from the Albanians over half a billion euros, ended. But the government did not lower the prices.

A week ago, the Minister of Finance, Delina Ibrahimaj, and the new Minister of Order, Taulant Balla, signed the directive, which determines the new fees for equipping citizens with biometric documents. According to the instruction table, the fee for identity cards remains unchanged at 1500 ALL. Also, the passport equipment fee remains unchanged, 7,500 ALL for the standard application and 18,000 ALL for the fast application.

Sources from the government justify not reducing the prices that citizens pay for identity cards with the fact that the newly created state company, IdentiTek, must make investments. According to these sources, it was impossible to reduce prices in the first phase, but the government will consider reducing them in a later phase.

Billionaire profits, now for the state.   

The French company Aleat was contracted by the Albanian government for the exclusive concession of the production of identification documents in 2008, initially for a period of 5 years. The concession agreement was accompanied by a significant increase in the prices of passports and identity cards for citizens.

At the time, the government justified the concession as a necessary measure to meet the conditions for visa liberalization and increase national security. But in 2013, the government extended the concession for another 10 years without competition, just like the concessions of the Rinas Airport and the chrome mine in Bulqiza.

For 15 years in a row, Aleat has been one of the most profitable companies in Albania, recording profit rates ranging from 25 to 50 percent of turnover. Historical data show that for the entire 15-year period, Aleat collected 52.5 billion ALL or half a billion euros from Albanian citizens for equipping them with identification documents. Now that the monopoly passed to the state and the government did not reduce prices, the staggering profits will go to the government coffers to be managed by state bureaucrats./ oligarkia.al


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