Some 400 quake-affected families have already moved into their newly-built houses in the municipality of Shijak after becoming homeless on the tragic night a year ago. As the calendar flips to the new year today, Prime Minister Edi Rama, accompanied by the Minister of State for the Reconstruction Arben Ahmetaj, and the Mayor of Shijak Elton Arbana, handed over the keys to the new homes to a number of families benefiting under the post-earthquake reconstruction programme in Maminas and Xhafzotaj.

“May you enjoy your new home in comfort and joy,” the government head said as he extended his wishes to the families that will celebrate the New Year’s Eve in new houses.

The quake-affected families in Shijak, just like in every other quake-hit area, have been granted the rental bonus since day one after the powerful earthquake until the day they move into their new homes. Meanwhile, the newly-rebuilt homes are larger and safer than the dwellings these families lost to the tragic night of November 26.

The government head visited some of the new houses to extend New Year greetings to the families that now own a new dwelling that meets contemporary standards. “We hope that the coming year will be better than this one. Around 1000 quake-affected families in Shijak, Tirana, Durres, Kruja, Fushe-Kruja, Kavaja, and Rrogozhine will move into new homes that have been recently rebuilt under the reconstruction programme. A total of 1000 families will move into their new homes on December 31,” Reconstruction Minister Ahmetaj noted.

The post-earthquake reconstruction program is underway all over the country, while once construction of private homes completes, work will continue to construct new apartment buildings and residential complexes.

“The required procedures for construction of initial nine apartment buildings have completed. The site preparation work completed three days ago and the groundbreaking ceremony for the residential neighbourhood will take on January 5, normally the first work day of the year. Based on the contracts with the builders, work to construct the new neighbourhood is set to complete in August or in September at most,” Ahmetaj added.