TIRANA, Feb. 18 – The National Territory Council (NTC) approved the construction of several multi-story buildings in the middle of Tirana, creating controversy and doubts over Tirana’s Mayor Erion Veliaj, who has in the past made the end of redundant urban construction in the capital part of his campaign promises.
The approval for the “towers” was given the same day the NTC approved the construction of three hydro-power plants on the Osum canyons, but while the HEC-s construction immediately became a topic of protest among activists, it was only this week media and opinionists reported on Tirana’s urban constructions.
Local media reported deputy mayor Arbjan Mazniku said new construction in Tirana is still necessary to meet request for housing needs.
According to Mazniku, Tirana needs an average of 550 square meters of new construction surfaces annually to handle its population growth.
“Tirana grows by 22 to 30,000 people annually and we cannot stop this demographic trend,” Mazniku said.
However, Tirana’s housing market has also been a matter of concern, as it experienced a dramatic incline of construction in the 2000s which experts said far surpassed housing demand, fearing a housing bubble that could lead to unsold apartments.
Concerning this, Mazniku said the apartments’ stock has been steadily decreasing.
Expert in immovable property markets Ylli Sula also told local media the immovable property market has been revived in the past years, a conclusion reached due to the increase of housing agencies in the country.
Nonetheless, housing agencies representatives have told local media the market still needs to grow, with the main demand going towards smaller and less costly apartments.
In an interview for a talk-show last year, Veliaj explained Tirana’s increased construction through higher need for parking spots, which reportedly many of the buildings will provide, as well as to meet demand for Call Centre spaces.
Some experts, however, have said additional private parking spaces will not solve, but rather create problems for the number of Albanians economically unable to cope with Tirana’s increasing traffic.
In addition they brought to attention that a number of call centers relocated in Italy after the approval of a law that favored their operation there, leaving a considerable number of Albanian students unemployed.
A number of opinionists, like Andi Bushati, weighted in saying that Prime Minister Edi Rama and Veliaj tend to boast for the government’s and municipality’s achievements, yet haven’t uttered a word or made the approval of the towers’ construction a point of applaud.
This, according to Bushati, is enough to signal this new construction approval is not what was asked for Tirana.
