TIRANA, Jan. 6 – Only a dozen construction permits were issued in Albania during the third quarter of the year, hitting a quarterly record low since more than a decade, according to state statistical institute, INSTAT.
The situation reconfirms the difficulty in dealing with construction permits in Albania which was the key barrier for Albania’s sharp deterioration in the latest Doing Business report published by the World Bank.
Data shows the number of new construction permits sharply dropped to 12 in the third quarter of 2015, down from 99 during the previous quarter and 122 during the same period in 2014, hitting a record low since the first quarter of 2014 when latest data are available.
The country’s biggest regions of Tirana and Fier issued only 4 construction permits each, while there was only 1 permit issued in the region of Durres.
Poor demand for new permits has also affected the situation as the long-ailing construction sector continues suffering with a large stock of unsold apartments.
Local government units approved 125 construction permits during the first three quarters of 2015, down from 219 during the same period in 2014.
The number of annual construction permits has seen a sharp decline in the past three years dropping to a few hundred down from more than 1,000 annually before 2011.
INSTAT data shows the number of construction permits dropped to 270 in 2014, down from 360 in 2013, 1,604 in 2011 and 1,492 in 2008 just before the onset of the global financial crisis when construction industry was at its peak level.
Albania’s business climate suffered a major setback in the past year, losing 35 places in the World Bank Doing Business report on a sharp deterioration in dealing with construction permits.
Albania’s sharp deterioration was affected by the dealing with construction permits indicator where it lost 67 places to rank the bottom 189th in the report. “Albania made dealing with construction permits more difficult by suspending the issuance of building permits,” said the flagship World Bank report.
Urban Development Minister Eglantina Gjermeni has said Albania will establish an electronic one-stop-shop on construction permits in 2016 which will enable both households and businesses to apply online eliminating bureaucracy in state offices.
As elsewhere in the region, construction has been the most affected sector in Albania’s economy during the past six crisis years, losing its position as one of the key drivers in the pre-crisis years and cutting thousands of jobs.
