The site preparation work and the underground infrastructure has already completed in the new central residential block in Bubq administrative unit, Kruja municipality and is now ready for work to construct new single-family homes and residential buildings due to begin next week.
A super town, the Prime Minister Edi Rama branded the new residential neighbourhood as he inspected the sprawling site covering an area of more than 8.3 hectares.
A total of 150 quake affected families will be housed in the new dwellings, while the work to construct the new school building and the kindergarten has kicked off. Construction of the health care centre and the municipal building is also expected to begin very soon.
“This is a combination between the administrative units of this municipality, with one site picked to host the new single-family homes and the other to host the apartment buildings. Some 76 individual houses and 46 apartments will be built here. The site has an area of over 8.3 hectares, including the community spaces,” the Minister of State for Reconstruction Arben Ahmetaj said.
The Selman Daci high school building is part of this new infrastructural complex, whose construction is set to complete by end of February. This school is also part of the last lot of the new educational facilities set to be built as part of the ongoing post-earthquake reconstruction program in the country. “The work to construction the new school has kicked off very recently. The new school will have 14 classrooms, five labs and a modern gym for around 360 students,” Kruja Mayor Artur Bushi said referring to the school project.
With the underground infrastructure complete and water supply pipes already laid, work to construct the individual homes is expected to begin very soon. “Construction of individual houses will commence in the next three or four days. The site preparation for construction of each of them will begin tomorrow,” the project manager affirmed.
“The area’s infrastructure is being developed rapidly and combined work to construct the individual homes and the residential buildings will begin soon. We will have a clearer picture of what this area is going to become in the next two months,” Minister Ahmetaj said, adding “construction of most of individual houses will complete within next five months.”
Prime Minister Edi Rama too confirmed this deadline. “I think that construction of all single-family homes will complete next spring. I think that construction of schools and individual houses will complete by April or May, including any potential short delay. The schools being built through state budget money will certainly complete by spring, whereas the educational facilities funded by international donors will take more time due to the procedures they pursue. In the meantime, I am confident that all construction sites for apartment buildings would be launched by March, except Kruja. I am somehow worried about construction of the apartment buildings as we had to alter the original design because of the terrain, the infrastructure and other specific elements,” the Premier sai.
Speaking about this issue, Kruja Mayor Artur Bushi explained that procedures are currently being conducted by the Albanian Development Fund and the contract with a builder is expected to be signed soon. Reconstruction Minister Ahmetaj said that complete funding for construction of a house will be granted to affected families when construction of their new houses is geologically and geographically impossible. “I am confident all relevant procedures will complete soon and construction of the residential buildings in the 11 affected municipalities will kick off shortly after. Some 59 school buildings funded by the state budget will complete, while due procedures are being conducted for around 80 % of the schools due to be built by the international donors.”
Highlighting the rapid progress of the construction work, Reconstruction Minister Ahmetaj said that infrastructure work has completed at a record time. “Three months ago we visited the area for the second time after inspecting the site, where reconstruction project will be implemented and the infrastructure is almost complete by now,” he said.
