"During the pandemic, when we were in a difficult political situation, we have allocated over 7 million euros for Trepça. In the next two years, we will allocate at least 70 million euros for investments for 2022 and 2023. With our sovereign fund project, we have placed Trepça at the center of future economic development"
The Prime Minister of Kosovo, Albin Kurti, in a visit to the Trepça enterprise on October 20, after the end of the first round of the 2021 local elections, had promised that, within two years of the governing mandate, the Government he leads will allocate at least 70 million euros in investments for Trepça. (see here)
Initially, the Government of Kosovo (October 29, 2021), in the 2022 budget, had foreseen 40 million euros in investments for the public enterprises "Trepça" and "Telekom i Kosova". This was announced by Prime Minister Kurti himself. (see here)
Meanwhile, at the 53rd meeting of the Government of Kosovo, dated December 31, 2021, the proposal of the Ministry of Finance, Labor and Transfers for the allocation of budgetary funds in the amount of 860 thousand euros for the public enterprise "Trepça", as part of the program for the implementation of the Economic Recovery Package, was approved. (see here)
A year later (October 12), also as part of the program for the implementation of the Economic Recovery Package, for early pensions, the Government of Kosovo allocated the amount of 193,400 euros to this enterprise. (see here)
While at the beginning of this year (February 22), the request of the "Trepça" enterprise for a loan of up to 20,000,000 was approved in principle by the Ministry of Finance, Labor and Transfers, for the purpose of capital investment in mines and flotations. (see here)
But in an article (October 12) of "Kallxo.com", it is understood that this loan approved for "Trepça" has not yet been realized. (see here)
An allocation of funds for this enterprise was also announced in a Facebook post by the Deputy Minister of Economy, Getoar Mjeku, who wrote that the Government of Kosovo has allocated 1,13 million for the public enterprise Trepça Sh.A. (see here)
The same official, in a statement given to "Kallxo.com", said that the Kosovo Government has allocated 970 thousand euros this year, while a total of 15 million euros have been allocated for Trepça, since the Albin Kurti government took office. (see here)
Statement by the Deputy Minister of Economy, part of the article by "Kallxo.com":
Deputy Minister of Economy, Getoar Mjeku, says that the problems at "Trepça" were inherited from previous governments. But, according to him, the central executive is working to "restore the splendor of "Trepça"."
"This year we have allocated 970 thousand euros for mining machinery, we are talking about small capital investments compared to what is expected. But, with the 20 million, new machinery is expected to arrive" - says Mjeku. According to him, since the Kurti Government came to power, about 15 million euros were allocated for the enterprise.
The miners of the Trepça company announced a strike (October 21) to fulfill the demands of the company's management, to receive the remaining part of their salaries by this Monday (see here), while the Government of Kosovo decided to allocate an additional amount of 1,675,150 euros two days later (October 23), for the enterprise in question. (see here)
Analyze:
Based on the history of funds allocated by the Government led by Prime Minister Albin Kurti for the "Trepça" enterprise (an allocated amount of 20 million euros has not yet been realized), which do not reach the total of 70 million euros, as well as based on the statement of the Deputy Minister of Finance, Getoar Mjeku, who stated that the total investment by this government for Trepça is 15 million euros, hibrid.info has verified that the statement of October 20, 2021, by Prime Minister Albin Kurti, regarding the promise for the investment in question, has not been realized.
Based on the methodology of work on fulfilling or keeping promises, hibrid.info evaluates this statement as "promise not kept".
Rating:
Fulfillment or keeping of promises is mainly related to pre-election promises, which are monitored at the central and local levels during the four-year mandate. This research is mainly conducted during the pre-election campaign, where the main political figures are monitored, in order to have a fact-check of what they say. Based on the promises made earlier, through the election program, Hibrid.info checks the statements of these politicians, to see if they have managed to keep those promises after the mandate. Hibrid.info plans to publish such reports on an annual basis.
The assessment in this category is made as – promise kept (if it is kept), partial promise kept and promise not kept (if it is not kept).