Only 14 construction permits issued in second quarter

TIRANA, Oct. 15 – The low number of construction permits issued by local government units is another reason for the crisis in the long-ailing construction sector. Data published by the country’s Institute of Statistics show only 14 new construction permits were issued in the whole of Albania during the second quarter of 2013. “Only 14 new building permits were issued in the second quarter of 2013, down from 22 in the first quarter of the year and 18 in the second quarter of 2012,” says INSTAT. Nine of the construction permits were issued for residential buildings while the remaining five for hotels and trade buildings. The southern coastal city of Vlora tops the list with six permits followed by Tirana and Durres with four each. No construction permits at all were issued in the eight other Albania’s administrative regions.
Some 73 construction permits were issued in the final quarter of 2012 and another 22 in the first quarter of the 2013, according to INSTAT.
Dealing with construction permits ranks Albania with the worst global performance, 185th along with Eritrea. Albania and Eritrea are both “no practice” economies with barriers preventing private builders from legally obtaining a building permit, according to Doing Business 2013. Last year’s Doing Business 2012 report ranked Albania 82nd noting the ongoing difficulty in dealing with construction permits. “In Albania dealing with construction permits became more difficult because the main authority in charge of issuing building permits has not met since April 2009.”
The long-ailing construction sector, boosted by public investment spending, staged an impressive turnaround and expanded by 16 percent year-on-year, after contracting in the preceding five quarters. In crisis since 2008, due to falling purchasing power especially from crisis-hit migrants, the construction sector has failed to recover during the past four years also due to lending standards becoming tighter as bad loans stand at a record 25 percent. Unpaid government bills for finished public works and difficulty in obtaining new construction permits has also influenced.