Shahin Basha and his family, residents of Hoxharë in the district of Fier, inhabit now a new house, as their old house was destroyed by the floods. Their lives have returned to normal after they benefited full compensation, and had their house reconstructed.
Prime Minister Edi Rama was today their guest and had launch with them, in the company also of the Minister of Urban Development Eglantina Gjermeni and of the Mayor of Fier Armando Subashi.
Shahin and his family live on livestock, and they can see the change that has occurred in the area where they live. “A colossal work has been done, Mr Prime Minister. I’m not just saying this, but this is a fact”, Shahin told the Prime Minister. For instance, canalizations were a big concern for all the residents of the village until recently as they were the main cause of flooding, but now this issue has been solved. “So far we have cleaned approximately 100 km, which means thousands of hectares. We’re mainly focused on the drainage canals because they were the main concern that had other consequences, such as flooding. Some of the lands would be under water until May”, Mayor Subashi explained.
In addition to confirming the colossal work carried out, the Prime Minister noted that a lot remains to be done for the Albania that all the citizens want to have. “I know that a lot has been done, but still a lot remains to be done. It’s not people’s fault that they’ve been waiting for so many years, and have faced only destruction, chaos, conflicts. With the amount of money that has been wasted in 20 something years, we would have built the highways of Albania twice.”
Speaking specifically about Fier, the Prime Minister said that the appearance offered by the city is completely different, but it will be even more beautiful if the infrastructure projects provided for by the Urban Renaissance program are implemented, as they are being hampered by the legalization of the constructions built abusively along the rivers. “Fier is becoming spectacular. The problem is that without Gjanica – which is envisaged to cross the city, with a park connected to the city centre – Fier cannot become a Mediterranean European city.
Tell me what should we do? We need to demolish the constructions in Gjanice, but they’ve legalized them, and people have become legal owners. Because of previous abuse, not only the city was blocked and it was continually flooded, just like Lana in Tirana, but now we have to pay those gentlemen, otherwise we can do nothing.”
Shahin Basha showed his satisfaction with the already changed infrastructure. “Now we have beautiful alleys, whereas before we couldn’t cross them”, he said.
The conversation continued on concrete projects undertaken by the Municipality of Fier on infrastructure, schools, water supply, etc. about which Mayor Subashi explained: “The highway to the sea is about to start. We’re developing a broader concept for this part here as 2-3 km away from here is Darezeze, one of the pearls of the Adriatic. From Darezeze to the estuary of Vjose that connects us with Pishporon. It is a pearl. Last year we reconstructed partially about 15 schools, and overall we’ve improved a lot. The two projects we’re working on now in Cakran, the main road connecting the highway with the centre of Cakran, and the water supplies in the 4 villages, cost approximately 900 million ALL. It was impossible for our municipality to do all this before. There were 30-40 employees who pretended to work. By September-October there were no money left to pay salaries, and the municipality was locked down.”
The government support for farmers is another topic that was discussed with particular interest in the Basha family, as Prime Minister explained that being united in their products, they are the most powerful on the market: “What we should do is support every farmer, so that they will feel really motivated. It’s hard for people to let go of the mentality according to which if they’re together, they’re a cooperative, and hence they’re communists. Meanwhile, all of the Mediterranean Europe has cooperatives. From your collection points, products should be sent to the joint collection point of the municipality, and from there to the market. This is what should be done.”
Meanwhile, the Mayor of Fier explained that two important projects are being concluded. “We’re about to conclude to major projects. One is for the cold storage collection point, and the other one is for a livestock market with a slaughter house.”
The Prime Minister noted that although agriculture has been one of the most damaged sectors, its recovery has already started and the sector has taken the right turn. “I think that agriculture is one of the sectors that was most badly damaged, and therefore its recovery is difficult. But it is worth noting that this sector has really taken a turn. If what we did today for the reform had been done 20 years ago, today we would be talking about other things, about another Albania.”
