Tirana’s Unbuilt Incinerator: Company Under Seizure Posts €8 Million Profit in 2025! Concession Regularly Received State Budget Payments

“Integrated Energy BV SPV”, the concessionaire for the Tirana incinerator, posted a pre-tax profit of 792.3 million lek in 2025 (over 8 million euros), even though the waste incineration plant covered by the contract has not been built.

According to the 2025 financial statements, revenue from core activity reached 1.5 billion lek. The company says in the report that its revenue comes from waste processing. During 2025, waste was accepted and treated from district municipalities and private operators under contract; the amount treated during the year was about 492,935 tons, according to official data.

Pre-tax profit accounted for about 53% of revenue. For every 100 lek in revenue, the company generated nearly 53 lek in pre-tax profit, an exceptionally high margin for a contract financed largely by public payments for waste treatment.

After paying 119.6 million lek in tax, “Integrated Energy BV SPV” closed 2025 with a net profit of 672.8 million lek, nearly 7 million euros.

The Tirana waste concession has regularly received payments from the state budget, even after it was placed under seizure and although it only performs waste management services and has not carried out the planned investment to build the incinerator. In 2025, the company received 913 million lek in payments from the budget, while since 2017 it has received a total of 8.4 billion lek.

The financial results carry extra weight because of the contract’s history and criminal investigations. The concession, with an estimated investment value of 128.2 million euros excluding VAT, was awarded in 2017 for the construction of the landfill, the incinerator, the rehabilitation of existing dumpsites and the production of electricity.

But the industrial incineration plant was not built. The Supreme State Audit had found that the Municipality of Tirana and state institutions paid the full fee of 29 euros per ton, even though that fee included the incineration process, which was not being performed.

The company has been under preventive seizure since July 2023 and is administered by the state. According to SPAK, its de facto owners are Mirel Mërtiri and Klodian Zoto, despite the formal ownership structure registered abroad.

In July 2026, SPAK sent 12 people and the two companies “Integrated Energy BV SPV” and “Integrated Technology Service” to trial. The concessionaire company itself is accused of fraud with serious consequences and laundering the proceeds of crime.

According to SPAK, from the start of the contract until the seizure was imposed in 2023, the company secured 11.3 billion lek in revenue, while only 21 million euros were invested in the construction of the facility. Prosecutors allege that large sums were moved out of the accounts through fictitious invoices, companies set up inside and outside Albania, and transfers of physical cash. The amount identified by the investigation reaches 1.28 billion lek and 16.7 million euros.

The 53% pre-tax profit margin shows that the contract continues to generate large profits, while the main facility that was supposed to justify the fee and the public investment — the incinerator — has not been built, now nine years after the contract entered into force. /Monitor