TIRANA, Oct.11 – Tirana Mayor Erion Veliaj has unveiled a plan under which the city’s infrastructure, economy and environment would change drastically, including the construction of many more buildings of 10 stories or higher.
In the presentation of the city’s urban plan, Mayor Veliaj said that Tirana will become a city that is environmentally sustainable, inclusive and accessible to a wide population.
Tirana’s urbanization process has been frantic in the last decade and has been marked by massive migration from rural areas.
The population of the district of Tirana has grown from 350,000 inhabitants in 1990 to 800,000 inhabitants in 2010, data published by the municipality revealed.
Facing the massive expansion of the city the Municipality of Tirana reinstated a plan aiming accommodate the needs of city for planning and development.
According to the plan, the capital will have six central areas that will host businesses and corporations such as the area of Kombinati, Lapraka, New Boulevard, Shkoza, Kinostudio and Sauk.
It also mandates for several skyscrapers to be built around the new central areas, providing lower taxes to renting businesses and corporations.
The decision to build high profile towers around the capital has been met with criticism by experts who believe that the capital needs more green areas rather than endless surfaces of concrete.
“There are many people who say: ‘I hate towers.’ But if we have a 500 square meters available land, wouldn’t be smarter to use 100 square meters and built a 10-story building?” Veliaj said, adding the rest would be open space for the public.
The municipality plans to award bonuses to entrepreneurs that will built green areas and apply the thermal insulation technology to reduce energy consumption in buildings.
Almost two decades ago, Tirana mostly had pedestrians and no motor vehicles, hence the road network is underdeveloped. In the capital, there are no avenues or ring roads, and there are many dead end roads. The public transport system is also very poor, and is primarily based on buses.
According to the latest Tirana’s urban development plan, the capital will have five bridges that move to allow passage for over 140,000 motor vehicles, and only two of them will be for pedestrians. A higher number of green urban areas have been incorporated in the urban development plan, along with improved public transports.
The capital’s urban development plan will be submitted for review at the Municipality Council by beginning of November.
