In Macedonia, on annual level municipalities spend from 48,000 EUR (Aracinovo) to 13 million EUR (Cair) on public procurements. Municipality of Cair has singlehandedly spent as much as 36 municipalities together!
The rank list of municipalities according to funds spent on public procurements in 2014 shows that last year they have spent between 13 million EUR (Municipality of Cair) to 48 thousand EUR (Municipality of Aracinovo). Such great range of annual spending on public procurements is indicative of major differences in terms of funds disposed by municipalities to provide services falling within their competences (construction of local streets, utility infrastructure, local lighting, refurbishment and construction of schools, urban equipment, etc.).
It seems that such differences are best represented by information that the Municipality of Cair, as top-ranked in terms of total amount of funds spent on public procurements in 2014, has singlehandedly spent the same amount of funds as 36 municipalities together, most certainly those from the second half of the rank list, i.e. Karbinci to Aracinovo.
In that, the top rank of the Municipality of Cair, ranked on the twelfth position in 2013, is primarily due to implementation of the second stage of construction works on the “Monument Square Skanderbeg”. Actually, this construction effort accounts for the biggest public procurement contract signed last year among all municipalities and amounted to 664 million MKD, i.e. 10.8 million EUR. Moreover, this contract accounts for as many as 82% of total value of public procurements in this municipality for the year 2014.
In 2014, the Municipality of Centar maintained its second position on the rank list according to total value of public procurements, as was the case last year. By means of tender procedures, this municipality has spent 5.8 million EUR, representing a decrease by 36% compared to the previous year.
Top 10 municipalities with highest value of public procurements also include other Skopje-based municipalities, such as Aerodrom, Karpos, Kisela Voda and Gazi Baba. On the other hand, bigger municipalities featured on the top 10 list are Kumanovo, Bitola, Strumica and Kicevo. At the same time, it is important to stress that top 10 municipalities with highest spending on public procurements account for 46% of all procurements organized by 80 municipalities in the country.
Small municipalities, such as Zelenikovo, Vevcani, Rosoman, Centar Zupa, Lozovo and Aracinovo, are at the bottom of this list, with annual value of public procurements in the amount of less than 200,000 EUR.
As shown on the rank list of municipalities according to the value of public procurements, on average, the municipalities have spent 81 million MKD, i.e. 1.3 million EUR. Hence, Municipality of Cair, as first ranked in terms of value of public procurements, has spent ten times more than the municipal average, while Municipality of Aracinovo, which is at the bottom, has spent 27 times less funds than the average. In general, the high average of funds calculated among municipalities is result of major public procurement spending on the part of small number of municipalities. In particular, 23 municipalities have spent funds in amounts higher than the average, while majority of them, i.e. 57 municipalities, are below that average.
Analysis of municipalities’ per capita value of public procurements provides a completely different image.
According to this parameter, the top position is held by Municipality of Novaci which has spent 516.5 EUR per capita in 2014 (rank list according to per capita value of public procurements). At the bottom is Municipality of Aracinovo which has spent 3.6 EUR per capita in 2014.
Municipality of Novaci, with 3,183 citizens (Population Estimates, State Statistical Office, December 2014) is on the top of the rank list of municipalities according to their per capita value of public procurements for second year in a row. In that, the amount of funds spent on public procurements in 2014 is almost doubled compared to 2013 when it accounted for 276 EUR per capita.
The high value of public procurements in this small municipality is due to investments in construction of local road Brod–Gneotino–Municipality of Novaci, as well as implementation of its 2014 programme on construction, reconstruction and maintenance of local roads and streets.
The top 10 list according to per capita value of public procurements is dominated by small municipalities with population in the range from 3,000 to 10,000 citizens, while Skopje-based municipalities Cair and Centar represent bigger municipalities on this list.
As shown on the rank list, exceptionally small per capita values of public procurements, i.e. less than 20 EUR, were calculated for five municipalities: Centar Zupa (18.9 EUR per capita), Studenicani (14.2 EUR per capita), Suto Orizari (10.4 EUR per capita), Gostivar (9.9 EUR per capita) and Aracinovo (3.6 EUR per capita).
In that, it should be noted that single public procurement organized by Municipality of Aracinovo in 2014 concerned procurement of heating fuel for the primary school “George Castriot Skanderbeg”, in the amount of 2,990,000 MKD.
The per capita average of public procurements in 2014, calculated for all municipalities, amounts to 64 EUR. Only 28 municipalities have per capita values above this average, while all remaining municipalities, i.e. 52 in total, have per capita values higher than this average. It could be concluded that among municipalities with population numbers higher than 30,000 citizens, only three Skopje-based municipalities Cair, Centar and Butel have above-average per capita values of public procurements. Other bigger municipalities have per capita values higher than the average of 64 EUR, with Gostivar, Tetovo and Prilep being the worst-ranked.
Such great range among municipalities in terms of their per capita value of public procurements from 3.6 EUR to 516.5 EUR is undoubtedly indicative of the lack of equitable development at local level. Hence, these differences could provide solid basis to re-examine the manner in which central government’s earmarked grants are allocated to local governments, with a view to reduce differences and ensure more equitable development.
Top 50 public procurements among municipalities
The list of 50 biggest contracts signed by municipalities in 2014 includes public procurements in the value from 10.8 million EUR to 380 thousand EUR. This list is led by the Municipality of Cair’s contract on construction of overhead pedestrian crossing (Monument Square Skanderbeg, stage 2) signed with BAUER BG LLP Skopje, in the value of 664 million MKD, i.e. 10.8 million EUR. The second biggest contract is several times lower in amount and was signed by Municipality of Centar with GRANIT JSC Skopje for construction of the kindergarten “Koco Racin” – Skopje, in the value of 112 million MKD, i.e. 1.8 million EUR. Third ranked is the contract signed by Municipality of Stip with PUCKO PETROL LLP vil. Plasnica for procurement, transport and delivery of extra light fuel for households – 1(EL-1) intended for primary and secondary schools, kindergartens and the local government building, in the amount of 95 million MKD, i.e. 1.5 million EUR. Another six contracts from this list are signed in amounts higher than 1 million EUR, those being: City of Skopje’s contract with URBAN INVEST Kavadarci for reconstruction of the building façade “City Gallery”; Municipality of Strumica’s contract with UNIVERSAL CONSTRUCTION Strumica for construction of streets and construction land infrastructure preparation per programmes; Municipality of Gazi Baba’s contract with three companies (ZIKOL Strumica, EHI Skopje and JSC ENERGOMONT Skopje) for construction of sewage system in settlements Trubarevo, Goce Delcev, Jurumleri and Idrizovo; Municipality of Kumanovo’s contract with the company UPM-GROUP LLC Kumanovo for organization of transport for primary and secondary school students in the academic year 2013/2014; and Municipality of Gevgelija’s contract with EUROING Gjorgje Gevgelija for construction of primary and secondary traffic road network for multipurpose complex “MILCI” Gevgelija. Total value for all 50 contracts amounts to 2.7 billion MKD, i.e. 45.7 million EUR, which means they account for high 38% of the total amount of funds spent on public procurements by all municipalities together.
