Prime Minister Edi Rama’s remarks at launch of first site for post-earthquake reconstruction of new neighbourhoods in Tirana:

 

The reconstruction process enters a new phase today with the launch of the first major reconstruction site in the capital, the first of several large construction sites, which are designed not merely to meet the housing needs of the families that lost their homes on the tragic night of November 26 last year, but they are also a response to a natural disaster in view of the future.

There are always two ways to cope with a crisis. One is to handle the disaster as a momentary event and temporary heal the wounds, while the other is to cope with and see it as a new opportunity to take a higher path than before the crisis.

I have always believed and I do increasingly believe, also thanks to experience, that out of every crisis comes the great opportunity to be reborn.

If a saying has it that not everything, which is bad, comes to hurt us, then this was really a bad thing to happen primarily to the families that tragically lost their beloved ones and thousands of families that lost their shelters, but the good thing in all this is that we together will move forward to new heights than we were before this tragedy happened. Tirana, Durrës and all the other areas that were hit, will be all better places than they were before the tragedy once the reconstruction completes.

This area here would have been probably undergo development 10, 20, 30 or more years later, when the opportunities were to be provided. But, we will intervene today in this area with the ambition to build a new residential centre in the next few years in Tirana, a new address for the Tirana we want to build for the next generations and a completely new space for around 11.000 residents.

More than 11.000 old and new inhabitants that will be living in this area, not as a remote suburb facing many shortages of a developing capital city and which will take its time to fully develop in the entire territory, but they will enjoy it as an area where everyone would have wished to live in. And no less important, the value of properties will be many times higher than it is here today.

If someone has lost an apartment of a certain value in Tirana will soon be housed in the apartments of the new residential neighbourhood and he or she will be the owner not only of a stronger, safer and more beautiful house, but they will also own a property of much higher value.

On last Nov 26, we faced an incredible challenge, as more than 15.000 families became homeless in just few minutes. As we gathered all strength and joined forces to cope with this challenge, not a deserved one for a country step by step progressing, but not advanced as to face challenges that send even more developed countries into troubles, few months later we encountered another challenge against the invisible enemy; an enemy that has gripped the world, challenging the governments all over the planet in terms of governance, know-how and financial aspect.

There were two consecutive blows we were dealt in a short time and which nobody else, taking notice of the factors and stakeholders substitutes’ bench of the Albanian politics, would have been able to withstand, while not only are we resisting them, but we are resisting them vigorously, patiently and successfully.

The COVID-19 pandemic could have overturned everything. The pandemic could have forced Albania enter into a “survival mode”, enter simply a daily survival mode and give up all plans on the future and even forget that a future exists and as such we would have been living from day to day, hoping for the best.

People actually happen to hear that this is the invitation extended to us every day, of course, with all the relevant brutality exerted by those on the substitutes’ bench and who want to resume power and take over the affairs of the country, who keep insisting with the insistence of one who cannot see beyond his own nose, does not see beyond today, has no vision for the future, insisting to spend all, everything we have in one day only.  By living from day to day in the name of all sorts of theories and all kinds of experts, like the one who showed up a day ago claiming to be a doctor and international expert for people to listen and stare at him in amazement and was introduced to the Albanian public, precisely by the one who pretends to become the country’s next prime minister and indeed the person he introduced was just a nurse. With all due respect, a nurse cannot considered and be promoted as a national expert, who can instruct others about a situation like the one because of the COVID pandemic, which, as we are all realizing, has baffled the world science, has baffled the planet’s most powerful governments and the world’s most developed countries.

Such a destructive and brutal approach of the short-sighted of those, who unfortunately are not in front but behind us, is a tragic approach and they are seeking to take us backward by resorting to all sorts of madness and through an extreme irresponsibility that is embodied in the portrait, the voice and gestures of Monika Kryemadhi, who calls on people to go to churches and mosques and ignore the virus threat, which, according to her, doesn’t exist.

On the other hand, the opposition leader, who keeps insisting that we should not pay for the Tirana waste treatment and instead leave Tirana drowning in its own waste and in a devious way, but also because of his incompetence and inability to see beyond his own nose, tells Albanians every day that we are paying state budget money to an imaginary mafia of incinerators. We actually don’t! As we face the deep wound inflicted by the earthquake last November, while we work to patiently heal this wound by working day and night, while we struggle to cope with this invisible enemy by providing people complete health care, because, according to him, we are wasting money that should be redistributed so that a huge hole is created, similar the one that his party sent Albania into twice, once through the pyramidal schemes and once with their government whose adventure ended in 2013.

No, this is not going to happen! We will frontally deal with the reconstruction challenge and we will win this challenge for the sake of all of those waiting to return to their houses, while some of the quake-affected are gradually mobbing into their new homes. We will win this challenge for the sale of all children, who are waiting to return back to their schools and who will start to return to their new schools, which their parents have never dreamed, on Nov 26, we will fight every day against the invisible enemy by providing not less, no more than anything ever provided in any hospital around the world in terms of health care, equipment, beds, medicines and everything else. We will also cope with the future, about which we think also when reconstructing.

We are not rebuilding just to house people in barns or apartments, like the ones of the social apartment tradition we inherit from those who own a series of villas on coastal areas and hill areas, while being satisfied at housing people in ghettos.

We will also tackle the needs in Tirana, Durres and all other areas to leave behind the era of the mountains of rubbish and era of waste as daily cohabitant of public life and the social life of anyone who, as soon as he leaves home, sees garbage as part of the landscape for decades.

We will also address the needs in Tirana, Durres and every part all over Albania to further develop infrastructure. As we speak, a very engineering complex project is underway in Tirana, right where the previous government was satisfied at placing an eagle memorial only. It is the first and last sculpture on the plaque I have seen in the history of art and in the history of urban public works, because neither beauty nor cleanliness has to do with them. These are the forces of ugliness, impurity, and chaos. For them, chaos means freedom, dirtiness means democracy, ugliness is pride.

But this is not the case with us!

But not only at the entrance of Tirana, work is also underway to construct the Tirana Ring road. And not only inside Tirana, but also outside Tirana, the work continues.

We will definitely open the largest public construction site in the history of this country, with the most important or vital segment today, the Blue Corridor, the highway from Milot to Fier. We will turn it from a ridiculous segment of tragic accidents, into a European corridor;

We will certainly open the construction site for the Milot – Murriqan highway;

We will definitely continue work and open the Kukes airport;

We will definitely keep insisting, despite the troubles the COVID-19 pandemic has caused to the airports industry, to finalize the international tender process for construction of Vlora airport;

We will certainly launch the construction site for the Saranda airport;

We will definitely go on working and complete 55 reconstruction sites to build water supply systems in all urban areas and ultimately tackle gangrene over decades.

We will press ahead with all these projects, because he who has never worked and is used to sleep, like my friend Lulzim and find everything ready once he opens eyes between the two sleep stages, you can’t realize that, if you stop work, if you stop investing, if you stop the activity that gives work and generates income and spend all money you have in one day, people not only would die on the streets in the future, because you no longer be able to pay doctors or nurses, but also countless whole families would die from unemployment.

Let alone when he calls for mass testing in order to stop infection. Why France is failing to halt infection, although it is the first country in terms of the tests number? Why Germany is not succeeding in halting the infection? Why no country stopped infection? Did this happen because they carried out more or less tests?

Who are we, who am I, who is he or who are those politicians who should decide how many tests should be carried out?

We have the obligation to support those in frontline of this war, respect, appreciate, listen to and obey to experts who are tasked by law to show us what to do and not confuse them with 1001 nonsense every day, by bringing to the stage all sorts of individuals and characters who have nothing to do with this situation.

I am saying all these, because the situation is extremely confusing in every aspect, but in this confusing situation, the government of the Republic of Albania is determined, it is patient and above all it knows what it is doing.

I fully understand the people’s impatience, in all aspects; especially those who are waiting to return back home. I understand them very well, but I am not referring to them, but I am saying all these to all those who complain about delays in this process. Which delay?

Not even a year had passed since the last Nov 26, while we have made available a massive state budget funding. Everything you see until today, the new school buildings, kindergartens, houses, public infrastructure project is funded through the budget of this state. Not a single penny from the international pledges under the Donors’ Conference has been disbursed as of today because of the procedures. We haven’t received a single penny, because the funding won’t be transferred to us. The pledges announced by all international donors in Brussels last February will be managed by them. EU will manage its funding. This is the case with other international donors, including Germany, France, Italy, Turkey, and the United Arab Emirates. And of course, we have to move forward faster and we have actually moved faster.

Look at Italy. It is the world’s fifth greatest power – and I do not want to draw any pejorative comparisons with Italy – but reconstruction projects have yet to kick off since the 2016 earthquake in Amatrice, the 2009 earthquake in Aquila, because of some terribly complicated processes.

People should understand that we are here to launch this reconstruction site today, but the work for this project has been actually launched long before.

The work doesn’t begin when you show up with a podium and excavators. This is the way how the previous government used to launch projects ahead of the election day and to be abandoned shortly after because no projects were designed, no feasible and geological studies and no funding was secured in advance. He opened the tunnel on the Nation’s Road, which later collapsed, and isolated the new Nation’s Road from other main segments, isolating entire communities, failed to build bridges and provide the safety standards, leaving behind a road where landslides were a regular phenomenon. However, it is the only road project in line with international standards compared to all other projects that former government launched and never completed.

Let alone when they claim to have built 10.000 kilometres of roads. They have actually built not a single road. The projects of all roads need to be reviewed.

Once we come to the site, it means that we have already completed a whole process in advance. In the case of the reconstruction, the process has included damage assessment, door-to-door verification by engineers and experts, and alignment of the whole verified situation will the property documents, which is another problem in its own. Then the process includes re-verification and the review of the complaints. Every case has been verified. As of today, hundreds of families that either live abroad and  we have to contact them in order to transfer them the compensation grant and start work to repair damages, or still complain about the damage level to their houses. Local authorities have asked teams of engineers to verify their claims again.

 The work to design projects goes hand in hand. How one could possibly can build a residential neighbourhood for 11.000 residents by acting on the spur of the moment, without having designed the project in advance. The whole project needs a planning, a master plan and the infrastructure project and detailed project on each building, because it is not about constructing a single house, but apartment buildings and compounds that will also house public institutions.

How could this possibly be done in the blink of an eye!

Here we are today after all projects were designed and required tender procedures were carried out and builders were selected to implement the project on construction of the new residential neighbourhood.

The same goes for the project on the new neighbourhood in “the Kombinat” area. I receive text messages from residents there, saying “you are forgetting us.” I will forget nobody! The tender procedures will be launched next week for the project on construction of the new neighbourhood in Kombinat as everything else has already completed. A new residential neighbourhood will be constructed there from scratch. Whole old neighbourhood that could barely stand on its feet will be wiped off the map and a new neighbourhood will be constructed on the site from scratch, along with entire urban infrastructure.

The new residential neighbourhoods in the “5 Maji” area and in Kombinat, the campus adjacent to the Agricultural University and the new neighbourhood in the area of the former “Auto-tractors” area will no longer be 4 suburban areas, but four centres of gravity in all the four corners of Tirana.

Ecole 42, the latest generation of schools and tuition-free computer programming school created in France, will be built right here in this neighbourhood. We will of course construct the building to house this new school, while the curricula and the know-how will be imported from France.

The Customs and the Tax Administration headquarters will be also located in this area.

The Reconstruction Program is a process of complete transformation, just like the world of those who are gradually moving into their new homes has been transformed. Together with Erion and Arben we visited the new house of the Democratic Party chair in the village of Farke. Four families shared same house and lived under one roof before the earthquake. But they live in completely different housing conditions now. From an old house they inherited from their grandfather, which collapsed because of the earthquake, they now have four new houses with everyone living under the roof of their new houses.

This will be the case with everyone and all it takes is just patience, strong will and strength as dogs keep barking and their barking is becoming increasingly intense.

They are to be thanked regarding one aspect, as the more they bark, the more they encourage us to move forward. But it is of course disastrous in another aspect, because the country’s atmosphere could have been totally different today, it could have been a different social atmosphere, if these people would have thought humanely even for once in their lifetime and tell people “these are our alternatives, ideas that are different from yours, but let’s us sit and do the best for the people.”

But, absolutely not! The opposition leader appears on TV to call it “a state terrorism.” The extreme words have been consumed to the limit of becoming ridiculous and grotesque. Words that have lost their meaning are used. And of course the people are right when they say “if you lie down with dogs, you get up with fleas.”

No matter how hard you try to avoid it, no matter how far you look, no matter how hard you try to stay away from this sludge and wrongdoing, it is still impossible for you not to get dirty because of their sludge. However, we can’t help and we do nothing about it. We didn’t choose this. It just happened to us and can do nothing about it, but just move ahead with our work and deliver on everything we have pledged to do and turn reconstruction into a historic process in the fullest sense of the word.

The new residential neighbourhoods won’t simply be a point of reference showing how those who became homeless were housed, but a point of reference showing how the future will be built, how the novelty should be conceived in the urban territories, how to plan, build and provide best conditions to the people and how people should not be divided into “the wealthy ones” living in the city’s centre and “the poor” living in the suburbs, but instead provide the right conditions for the two to share same living space.

Whoever has lost the house due to the earthquake will move into new, stronger and more beautiful house in this residential neighbourhood.

Other people, once the new neighbourhood fully develops, will buy their homes here and the municipality will be the owner of the new apartments.

We have embarked on this path and we will move forward being fully confident that this is the only path to build the Albania we want and the Tirana we want. It would suffice the yesterday’s episode featuring a DP official, who appeared at the door of the Sami Frashëri school to claim that “nothing is going on here,” or the Socialist Movement for Integration chairwoman, Monika Kryemadhi, on the other hand, who appeared at her imaginary mosque to say again “nothing is going on here.” The truth is that the Sami Frashëri high school building will be twice bigger in size, much more beautiful and a point of reference, where the school’s history will be preserved on the same site as a spiritual legacy, with the school building no longer posing a danger to students just for the sake of the cultural heritage, just like it was the case with the National Theatre building.

Construction of the new National Theatre building will kick off soon on the same site. And just like it is the case with all our projects, once they complete, there is no need for us to speak, because our projects speak for themselves. But until they all complete, we will have to speak more than necessary, because the barking