(ANSA) - ROME, MAY 8 - The opening of new Italian-run migrant
centres in Albania, which was scheduled for 20 May, has been
postponed, according to reports Wednesday.
The Italian military engineers working on the Shengjin and
Gjader sites, according to the agreement between Rome and
Tirana, have not yet finished setting up the facilities.
Meanwhile, the contract for the management of the facilities for
24 months was awarded to the Medihospes cooperative with a bid
of 133.8 million euro.
Italy is to set up two migrant hotspots and a centre to hold
migrants awaiting repatriation for a total expenditure of almost
34 million euro a year.
The agreement, signed by Premier Giorgia Meloni and her Albanian
counterpart Edi Rama in Rome in November, provides for the
reception and processing of up to 3,000 migrants and refugees
rescued by Italian ships per month.
People with special needs such as the elderly, children or
pregnant women, migrants and refugees who have been rescued by
NGO-run ships and people who land directly on Italian soil are
to be excluded from the deal. (ANSA).