The quake-affected families in Zall Herr, Tirana municipality, are moving one by one into their newly-rebuilt homes, constantly reducing the number of families still living in makeshift tents. These families regularly receive the rental bonus under the government’s housing rental programme, yet they have decided to live close to the site of their destroyed village homes to care for their livestock and cultivate their agricultural land.
Today, Prime Minister Edi Rama was in Zall Herr to visit the new houses of two local families. “We are here in the village of Melcize in the former commune of Zall Herr, where we have just completed the procurement procedures for construction of the bridge to the other part of Zall Herr based on a community request and the construction work is set to kick off next month. The bridge and a new road linking every neighbourhood with the other part of Zall Herr will complete by summer. As you can see by yourself the area has been affected by erosion,” said Tirana Mayor Erion Veliaj, who visited a new three-bedroom family home along with the Prime Minister Edi Rama and Reconstruction Minister Arben Ahmetaj.
“I would like to thank you for visiting us and for building the new house,” said Ramazan, whose old dwelling was shared by two families that have now benefited two new houses.
“It is with great pleasure that we can provide much better housing conditions and living spaces than the affected families had in their old homes,” the Premier said. “A total of 10023 families used to live in makeshift tents last February, whereas their number has dropped to 865 just a week ago. All the families currently living in tents receive the rental bonus. Construction of the single-family homes will complete soon, whereas construction of the apartment buildings will take some more time. However, all the families waiting to move into their new apartments are currently housed in rented apartments,” the Premier went on to say.
“Construction of some 1600 single-family homes is slated to complete by May, whereas the application system has been launched in all quake-hit municipalities for the families that were sceptical that their homes were ever to be built again,” the State Minister for Reconstruction Arben Ahmetaj said. “As we have already pledged, construction of 1600 single-family housing units will complete by end of May. There have been a number of families that were sceptical whether their new houses would be ever built again and therefore they have declined to file their applications. Seeing now how things are really progressing, we urged local government authorities in the affected municipalities to reopen the application system,” he said.
The Premier also visited the new three-bedroom house of Gezim.
