Tax police continue their operation PAGE 5

Hospitals: inauguration series begins PAGE 10

ZËRI I POPULLIT DIARY 28.02.1999, SHKODËR, DURRËS, ELBASAN, KORÇË, SOUTH Judges in the cigarette market The case of 250,000 packs seized during an economic investigation, worth around 20 million lek, which were returned to the very person from whom they had been seized, has now been referred to the Court of Cassation for trial. PAGE 2

Southeastern Albania is cut off; the customs offices at Qafë-Thanë, Tushemisht, Kapshticë and Gorica are idle PAGE 8

Work on the hydroelectric power plant is scheduled to begin in May this year. The investment amounts to $150 million. 25 Chinese specialists arrived in Shkodër several days ago and are examining the geological and topographical conditions of the site where the plant will be built. PAGE 11

The refrigerator plant, worth USD 7.4 million, is leased to a company with share capital of 100,000 lek There is no legal basis for leasing Tirana Refrigerator Plant No. 2, director of the Tirana Refrigerator Plant, Mr. Luan Shehu, tells the newspaper “Zëri”, expressing his concern. “The fact that our enterprise has been transformed into a joint-stock company, as well as a number of other reasons, removes the legal basis for concluding this contract,” the current director of the Tirana Refrigerator Plant writes to the Ministry of Economy and Privatization. The enterprise in question is a modern factory with German technology, completed in 1992. It has 7 fruit and vegetable processing lines. The green-bean processing line has a capacity of 2 tons per hour. If it operated three shifts during the peak season, it would process 48 tons per day. The pepper-processing line has the same capacity. Another line, for processing plums (pitting, processing and packaging), has a capacity of 1.5 tons per hour, or 30 tons per day. The factory, called the Refrigerator Plant, also has a deep-freezing, packaging and blanching line, as well as four large cold-storage rooms with a capacity of 2,500 tons. PAGE 6

This news came from the Vlorë Police Directorate. Collecting weapons and arresting people caught with weapons are seen as the solution. PAGE 7

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London 1600 GMT U.S. dollars Friday $1.7031 1.6995 1.6910 1.6825 1.6740 The dollar 141.60 M T W T F