TIRANA, June 3/ATA/ Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Infrastructure and Energy Belinda Balluku stated today that the establishment of the National Water Operator will bring significant improvement not only to the finances of this sector, but also to the service to citizens.
During a meeting held in Tirana to present the second phase of the reform in the Water Supply and Sewerage sector, launched in 2021 with the aggregation of companies, where Prime Minister Edi Rama was also present, Balluku said that the functioning of this operator will be carried out in the same way like the electricity sector.
“Today, the aggregation reform has yielded results and we call the first phase of the reform complete.
It is high time to continue with the second phase of the reform which consists of establishment of the National Water Production Operator. We have a very good example, which is the electricity sector. That sector was in the same situation in 2013, with losses reaching up to 50%. We often called them technical losses, but it was not just about losses, but about theft of electricity, a depreciated network, service that was not provided, estimated bills, etc.,” said Balluku.
Taking the example of the electricity sector and considering the progress that this sector has made, not only with the major action for legality in 2015, but also for the profound change that it underwent in 2019 with the separation of companies, as a request of the EU, Balluku added that at present-day, the energy sector has a clear scheme for the functioning of companies that provide vital services to citizens.
“The establishment of the National Water Production Operator would take us to another level, as the problem must be tackled from the core”, she said.
“In the second phase, we will focus only on the separation into two components, production and distribution. The third phase, which starts on January 1, 2027, includes the separation of the distributor with the establishment of a distribution company and a supplier company “, she stated. /r.e//a.f/p.s./
