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| Headquarters of UKD in Durrës |
The decision to liquidate the company was taken on May 15 of this year, as the coastal city enterprise was submerged in debt and had no assets, according to the report made by the Company's Shareholders' Assembly for bankruptcy, local media say.
Data from the balance sheet shows that UKD's losses doubled during the past year, reaching over 1 billion lek (approximately 10 million euros), compared to 535 million lek (5 million euros) in 2021, according to the data reported in the official balance sheet submitted to the National Business Center.
The company's performance deteriorated significantly during the past year, with total obligations reaching 16 billion lek (over 150 million euros), an 11 percent increase compared to 2021, while the capital was negative at 2.8 billion lek, indicating a severe financial situation.
The Auditor's Report indicates that the situation is even worse than the data in the balance sheet because the company has not kept provisions.
The Municipality of Durres was the main shareholder, and now the responsibility for supplying water to the city will be transferred to the Regional Water Supply and Sewerage Company of Durres (SHRUKD), where its shareholders are the Municipalities of Durres, Kruja, Kurbini, Shijaku, and Vora.
All the obligations of the Durres Water Supply Enterprise will be transferred to SHRUKD, but meanwhile, the bankruptcy of the Durres Water Supply Enterprise has implications with negative effects on other state-owned enterprises.
The Durres Water Supply is one of the companies mostly funded by donors due to its importance, among other things, for tourism development.
In 2013, the World Bank approved an $85.3 million loan to Albania for investments in the Durres Water Supply and Sewerage sector.
The IBRD loan of $85.3 million for the Water Sector Investment Project in Albania aimed to improve the existing water supply and sewerage network in the Durres region, the country's second-largest city and one of the main tourist destinations, as well as Albania's main port.
While last autumn, a 60 million euro agreement was signed for the financing of the Durres Water Supply network between the Albanian Government and the French Development Agency. After signing the agreement, Prime Minister Edi Rama stated that this investment will enable the transformation of the city.