The Olympic Park, an extraordinary sports and cultural complex, is coming to life in the outskirts of the city of Korça. The project is the result of a modern design that brings together in a single space a sports complex and the City of Children, following an investment of over 9 billion ALL. The new project uses the existing arched structure which has been abandoned for a long time. It is divided into two parts and hosts the Palace of Sport and the City of Children. The construction of the Park is accompanied by the urban remediation of the area around it, an uncultivated space of 150,000 square meters. Eight sports fields used for soccer, basketball, volleyball, running tracks, and the prospect of building other areas with a new infrastructure along the perimeter of the Park, are turning it into one of the largest sports complexes not only in the country.
Accompanied by Deputy PM Niko Peleshi and the Mayor of Korça Sotiraq Filo, Prime Minister Edi Rama returned to this Urban Renaissance site to inspect the progress of the works. The construction of the Sports Palace and of the City of Children is well under way, the grass carpet is being paved in the football field, and works in other areas are about to be concluded. “This is the sports area of the city of Korça, an investment of 3 billion and 700 million ALL. Part of the investment is this football field of international standard size, and the 9-lane Athletics track. There are also 8 basketball, volleyball and tennis fields. There is also a perimeter road and 300 parking lots. Greenery is also part of the investment. Over 500 trees have been planted, and the led lighting is provided for the entire area. The whole area, covering a total of about 150 thousand square meters, has been radically transformed”, Mayor Filo told about the project.
The City of the Children, a sports, educational and entertainment space, is a novelty, the first of its kind in our country. “The Children’s Centre in the city of Korça, is the first centre of this kind for which an investment is being made in Albania”, Mayor Filo said. “5 billion and 400 million ALL have been invested for this multifunctional centre for the children. Half of it will host sports premises, and the other half will be used for entertainment, education.”
Prime Minister Rama pointed out another element that makes of this an important investment, and it the fact that this centre will be a great attraction for family tourists, both domestic and foreign, who will find one more reason to spend a few more days in Korca. “It is not just the part that has to do with the city, the children and with the athletes of the city, nor the part concerning the athletes of the national teams or of other teams coming from neighbouring countries such as Greece, Macedonia. This is fantastic opportunity for tourism, because families with children who come here for a short visit to visit Korca, and those who come for more than a weekend, will have one more reason to say: let’s go there. It is really a great place also for children.”
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The city of Korca will have a multifunctional centre within this year. The centre will host the new building of the city hall, the theatre, the Art Gallery and the Library. Following a 400-million ALL investment, the centre brings together institutions of service to citizens and those of the cultural and artistic life of the city. The new city hall is a novelty in terms of providing services to citizens, as it brings the concept of “Open Hall” where citizens can get every service directly without having to go from one office to the other. Mayor Sotiraq Filo explained that the new building of the city hall combines elements of the old architecture with modern technology, thus creating a symbol of the city.
“It is a major project indeed. It aims at building a new city hall. The implementation of this project required the building of a new library and art gallery. The Palace of Culture, along with the former library, will constitute the new city hall. It will be a single complex. Services will be provided with a new concept, with no barriers. Employees will not have offices. They will be in an Open Hall, where citizens can go and obtain directly the services they need”, Mayor Filo explained.
The new local institution will host the municipal administration, the hall of the City Council, the offices of the Civil Registry and those of the Business Registration. The second component of the multifunctional centre is the Theatre, the Art Gallery, the New Library and the Creative Centre where new talents will be promoted.
According to Deputy PM Niko Peleshi, in allocating investments in Korça, the preservation of the cultural heritage has been taken into account as well. For instance, there has been a case where the intervention of the Ministry of Culture saved a cultural monument. “The owners demolished it because they wanted to build a condo. The city hall denounced them, and the Ministry of Culture proceeded with the expropriation. This is the first time the state has expropriated an object, a monument of culture demolished by the owner, in order to restore it and rebuild it in the same shame as before.”
