The show "On Target" on News24, in a documentary broadcast about the new port of Porto Romano, showed another expanded panorama on the tenders held so far.

As well as the construction costs and the shadows of suspicion over the companies behind this affair.

In the story that begins in June 2021.

The time when the Durrës Port Authority opened the tender with the object 'Drafting the Detailed Technical Project of the New Integrated Commercial Port of Durrës in Porto Romano'.

The value of the limit fund for this tender was 1,145,354,370 or about 11 million euros excluding VAT.

A competition in which 14 companies and operator associations participated. And in the end, the operator association 'Haskoning DHV Nederland BV & Adec Engineering Consultancy LLC & Abkons Sh.PK & Taulant Sh.PK & Geo-Eng Sh.PK' was declared the winner of the project.

A consortium of operators who offered 11.4 million euros including VAT.

Contract between the Port of Durres and the group of companies that were declared winners, which was signed on December 24, 2021.

But only 6 months after the signing of this contract between the Port of Durres and the group of companies that were announced as winners for the design of the new port in Porto Romano,

The Durrës Port Authority also made a financial contribution of around 3 million euros.

Thus increasing the value of the design cost to 13.6 million euros including VAT.

At the time, what was said was that the main reason for changing the contract was related to a request from the US.

A request based on which the Albanian government was asked to include, along with the new port, the construction of an autonomous naval base for the Naval Force of the Republic of Albania.

Design Contract Amendment

A key aspect of this project is the construction of an autonomous naval base for

The Navy of the Republic of Albania, connected to the road and rail network.

The Naval Force Command, coordinating with the American representatives, who have sent specific requests through the General Staff, has forwarded to the Durrës Port Authority the capacities needed, based on: the current inventory of the Navy's ships, the ships that have visited our country within the framework of allied exercises such as 'Defender Europe 21' and the possibility of accommodating all 'Destroyer' type ships.

So this brief synopsis of the developments surrounding the new port in Porto Romano would be sufficient to understand that from the very beginning this port has been in the special interest of the United States of America.

Which, within the framework of the strategic partnership, have requested that a military base for the naval force be built there, which would serve the US and NATO.

A tender that, for the sake of truth, was classified from the very beginning with a red flag.

This is due to the disqualification of all competing operators, including the lowest bid for the design.

Meanwhile, the winning companies, who were paid 13.6 million euros for the Porto Romano project, would have to submit the project within 15 months from the date of signing the contract.

But, as you will see below, the project was submitted earlier.

But who are the companies that won the tender for the design of the Port of Durres in Porto Romano?

And what is their connection to the Rama government?

The main company, which subsequently presented the project, is 'Haskoning DHV Nederland' BV based in the Netherlands.

A company owned by the 'Royal Haskoning' company, based in the Netherlands.

From what is understood according to 'Open Procurement' data, this company also has several other branches in Albania.

One of them is 'HaskoningDHV Nederland BV-Branch in Albania, registered in our country on May 22, 2008.

This company operated in our country until 2018, when it went into liquidation.

But, what is revealed from the balance sheets is the fact that 'Haskoning DHV Nederland' BV-Branch in Albania, in 2015 was placed under seizure by the Regional Tax Directorate in Tirana, for non-payment of tax obligations in Albania.

But just 7 months after the Tax Office imposed an insurance lien on the company, this very company suspended its activity and then began the liquidation procedure.

Meanwhile, from what results from the balance sheets submitted to the Central Bank, it appears that the company in question has not declared tax liabilities, while its activity exceeds several million euros each year, raising questions about tax evasion.

It also remains unclear whether the Taxes managed to collect the liabilities or whether the company managed to avoid the alleged debts to the Albanian government through bankruptcy.

But what raises additional questions is the fact that the Albanian government managed to entrust the Dutch company with the design of the port of Durres, when it was aware that the subsidiary of this company in Tirana had problems paying taxes to the state.

The second company that won the design tender was 'Adec Engineering Consultancy' based in the United Arab Emirates.

While the third company is 'Abcons', which is owned by 'Blessed Investment'.

This company is owned by Besnik Leskaj, the son of former socialist MP Valentina Leskaj, and the husband of Ledia Tota, former director of AZHT, later Advisor to Prime Minister Edi Rama for Territorial Planning.

While 30% of the shares belong to Redjan Basha's 'Capital B' company, this is another beneficiary of construction permits for investments on the coast and beyond.

The other two companies that won the competition are 'Taulant Shpk' owned by Ditika Qatipi and 'Geo-Eng' of Llambro Duni.

But even though the contract for the new Port had been signed for a long time, Prime Minister Rama and Deputy Prime Minister Balluku were remembered for presenting the new Port of Durres project at a public ceremony, just a year later.

Construction 393 million euros

But while Balluku and Rama walked side by side as they presented the New Port project with great fanfare, even though they declared that this port would be built with PPP, they never gave an official figure on the project's costs.

Although according to the tender for the first phase, the costs of the works would cost around 393 million euros.

Phase in which a series of works were envisaged, including those for construction, communication lines, construction of the marina, water construction work, terrain development, electrical lines, etc.

So, in other words, this would be one of the main phases of the project.

But one of the thoughts as to why the Albanian government never disclosed the total costs of the project is the fact that this could imply that they could amount to several hundred million euros.

But, the show 'Në Shënjestër' revealed an article written by the website 'consultancy.eu', which provides important details about the Port of Durres project.

According to this site, the article was based on data obtained from the company 'Royal Haskoning', while the publication of the article was made in July 2022, or a few months before the project was officially presented.

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Initially, this site, referring to statements by officials of the Dutch company, reveals that the cost of building the Port of Durres will be 2 billion euros.

Table

The details of the project will be further elaborated in the coming period, after which point construction will begin.

Porto Romano is scheduled to be operational in 2025 and it is estimated that the project could take around 2 billion euros to complete that aspect of the project alone.

This is precisely an important piece of information to understand that the pardon that the Albanian government granted to the current port of Durres to businessman Muhamed Alabar will cost Albanian citizens about 2 billion euros, or 1/4 of the current state budget.

Not only that, but according to the article, as cited above, and based on the testimony of the heads of the design studio from the Netherlands, the new port in Porto Romano should be ready in 2025.

Today, in Porto Romano, not only have works not started, but the tender for the first phase no longer exists.

So, as the former Deputy Prime Minister, Arben Ahmetaj, not so prophetically predicted, this means that Albanians risk being left without a port.

And at this point, it is worth going back to the second tender, the one for construction.

The tender for the construction of the Port of Durres in Porto Romano was announced on December 24, 2024.

While February 7, 2025 was foreseen as the date for holding the tender.

The fund limit for this tender would be 39.3 billion lek or about 393 million euros.

Where on April 4, 2025, the Durrës Port Authority notified the economic operators who had qualified to continue the competition.

Phase of the Procurement Procedure in which the bidders were qualified;

Archirodon Construction (Overseas)

Company Limited and Van Oord Dredging and Marine Contractors BV –

While the following bidders were disqualified;

China Communications Construction Company Ç. Webuild SpA. Jan De Nul nv.

But it would be the company 'Jan De Nul', based in Belgium, which on April 14, 2025, filed a complaint with the Public Procurement Commission, opposing its prior disqualification from the tender competition at the Port of Porto Romano.

Nine days later, the Public Procurement Commission, headed by Jonaid Myzyri, decided to dismiss the complaint of the Belgian company 'Jan De Nul' on the grounds that this company had not submitted a payment order in the amount of 2 million euros in order for the Public Procurement Commission to consider this complaint.

But the Belgian company didn't stop there.

She argues to Jonaid Myzyri that she could not present a payment order in the preliminary phase, and this

because the transfer of 2 million euros from the company's accounts in Belgium to the account of the Public Procurement Commission would require a series of approvals from the company's governing bodies.

But these arguments were rejected, while according to the Public Procurement Commission, the company 'Jan De Nul' has appealed this decision to the court, and the matter continues to be in the hands of justice.

But questions also arise as to whether this decision by the CPC risks giving the Belgian company the right to sue Albania in Arbitration.

Meanwhile, the company 'Jan De Nul', disqualified from the competition for Porto Romano, turns out to be one of the most prestigious in the world in the field of civil construction.

It states that for 2024 it had around 9 billion euros in contracts for works with state and private entities, while achieving a turnover of around 4 billion euros and a profit of around 400 million euros.

To this day, it remains a mystery why the Albanian government refused to accept even the economic offer of a Western company, which has public works and construction projects on every continent of the globe in its CV.

The only company remaining in the competition, after passing all stages, was 'Archirodon Construction' (Overseas) Company Limited.

This company is led by an Egyptian citizen, Hazem Sadek, while the rest of the senior management staff are Greek and Cypriot citizens.

The company is registered in Cyprus, which is known as a haven for shell company registration. 'Archirodon', has as its secretary, or more precisely, the company carries out all the legal and administrative activities of the company, namely the other company 'Cymanco Services Limited'.

This company also serves as the secretary for the company Luk Oil, which is also registered in Cyprus.

'Luk Oil' is a company owned by Russian oligarchs, and is sanctioned by the United States.

The company 'Cymanco Services Limited' has also served as the company secretary for Russian oligarch Albert Avdolyan, who has also been accused of financial fraud schemes.

Precisely, these connections of 'Archirodon', which has the company 'Cymanco Services Limited' as its secretary, were the reason that Arben Ahmetaj described it as a company behind which Russian interests are suspected to be hidden.

Therefore, these connections may also be one of the reasons why the company 'Archirodon' failed to provide a financial bid for the construction of Durrës, causing Albania today to suffer not only a financial but also a time loss for the construction of one of the country's most important strategic works.

Supervision 12 million euros

The entire procedure from the study, design, construction and supervision of the port at Porto Romano, has strong indications that it is predetermined.

As the competition for the 393 million euro tender for the construction opened, the Albanian government, through an extralegal procedure, authorized the Durrës Port Authority to directly negotiate the supervision contract.

With a decision dated June 26, 2024, the Council of Ministers authorized the Durrës Port Authority to directly negotiate and conclude consultancy agreements with international entities.

The contracting economic operator was the company 'Royal Haskoning-ARUP, MC Renovative Bruggen'.

The Albanian government never provided transparency regarding the value of this tender, with a 3-year implementation period.

But, referring to a criminal complaint that the Democratic Party Parliamentary Group submitted to SPAK in 2024, the value of the supervision tender awarded to the Dutch company, which previously received 13.6 million euros for the design, is around 12 million euros.

However, this procedure followed by the government appears to have been done in violation of the Public Procurement Law.

According to this law, amended in 2024, Article 52, point 2, stipulates that the Council of Ministers may authorize state or public administration institutions at central level to directly negotiate and conclude consultancy agreements.

with international entities within their field of competence in areas of strategic interest, in terms of the application of Artificial Intelligence, Cybersecurity, critical infrastructure and the fight against organized crime and corruption.

The Durrës Port Authority is a state-owned joint-stock company, but not a central institution. Consequently, the contract negotiation with the company 'Royal Haskoning' should have been done by institutions at the central level.

But it remains a mystery why this tender worth 12 million euros was negotiated by the APD and not by the Ministry of Infrastructure itself.

Expropriations 8 million euros

Another cost added to this project is the expropriation of thousands of square meters of land in the Porto Romano area, which will be transferred to the state in order to be put into operation for the construction of the new port.

By a decision dated July 31, 2025, the government, with the delegated signature of Prime Minister Edi Rama to former Deputy Prime Minister Belinda Balluku, signed a VKM with the object: The expropriation, for public interest, of the owners of real estate, private property, affected by the implementation of the project

'On the implementation of the project of the new integrated commercial port of Durrës in Porto Romano'

In point 3 of this decision, it was determined that 'Owners of real estate, private property, that are expropriated, are compensated in full value, according to the relevant measure, which is presented in the table attached to this decision, for assets of the type 'forest', 'field', 'land' and 'building', with a total value of 815 696 300.40

(eight hundred and fifteen million six hundred and ninety-six thousand three hundred and forty) lek.

So, according to the VKM, the Albanian state has so far paid about 8 million euros for expropriations, which are added to the total cost of 41.3 million euros that the Albanian government has spent so far on design, supervision and expropriations, for a project that seems unlikely to see the light of day for several more years.

Porto Romano today can be considered an 'affair', as SPAK is investigating, while the opposition a year ago requested the establishment of a parliamentary investigative commission.

But the latter was defeated by a majority vote, simultaneously denying Albanians the right to be informed about a phantom project, which has so far cost them a full 41.3 million euros without even a single brick being laid for its construction.