TIRANA, Feb. 12 – Tirana was selected this week by the World Urban Forum along with Australia’s Newcastle and Panama’s Panama City, as one of the three cities that underwent the most change during the last year,
Tirana’s mayor, Erion Veliaj, went on a two-day visit in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, as a guest to the World Urban Forum and a key speaker introducing the capital’s major changes over the last years.
Among local leaders, investors, non-governmental organizations, and experts in the field of urban development, Veliaj summed up the projects that transformed Tirana in the past and introduced future plans for the city.
“I am aware there is still a lot of work to be done, but today presents a chance to show the city of our dreams is reachable through will, desire and cooperation from the entire community, starting from children to the elderly,” Veliaj said.
He added that a big part of the achieved results are the result of good cooperation between the local and main government.
“A big part of the things my colleagues, mayors of other cities, heard about Tirana, would not have been realized for many years to come in normal conditions or routine pace.
The World Urban Forum serves as an opportunity for local leaders from around the world to share experience and knowledge on successful projects.
In this context, Veliaj highlighted the involvement of additional actors, such as private businesses and entrepreneurs, in Tirana’s success stories of the new Skandà«rbeg Square,its New Market and Boulevard, as well as smaller projects, such as the rebuilding of public kindergartens and schools, or the car-free days events.
This year, Veliaj promised 4000 new bicycles will be provided, while also saying one of the municipality’s biggest goals is solving the problem of teaching high-schools in two shifts during the first half of 2019 – an issue that comes from Tirana’s major high-schools being overcrowded.
“With the new schools we expect to finish building this year, but also with the project of additional new schools, we will have solved Tirana’s two-shift education problem before the 2019 elections,” he said.
Veliaj concluded the municipality will continue to pay attention to the rehabilitation of Tirana’s neighborhoods, saying this year 50 new blocks will be reconstructed and improve citizens’ lives.
The new urban agenda was approved in the UN Oct. 2016 conference on Sustainable Urban Development, held in Ecuador. This agenda aims to fulfill goals for sustainable development and creation of urban centers able to aid prosperity and social well-being, while also protecting the environment.
