Today, Prime Minister Edi Rama was in Lezha to inspect the national program “Revival of cities”.

Accompanied by the Mayor of Lezha, Viktor Tushaj, Minister of Environment Lefter Koka and MP of the city Monika Kryemadhi, Prime Minister Rama visited the implementation sites of the project.

An important part of the project is the reconstruction of the access road that starts at the roundabout on the highway Tirana-Lezha and goes up to the bridge over the river Drin at the entrance of the city. The bridge will be clad in stones. This investment of 40 million leke includes also connection of secondary roads and vertical and horizontal signage.

The reconstruction of the road Kodër-Marlekaj which is 1.7 kilometres long and for which over 89 million leke have been allocated, is another important project that is being implemented and which helps also the development of an informal area. Lezha MP Monika Kryemadhi addressed two major problems for the city of Lezha: the city aqueduct and lighting. She said that the new administrative and territorial reform allows these problems to be handled more efficiently.

“The biggest problems are the aqueduct and the lighting system in the city, which have very large costs. The new administrative division has created the opportunity for projects that, once done, will not be fragmented projects, therefore divided into 350 municipalities. Instead, they will be separated in such a way that administration, infrastructure, lighting, water supply, roads will be a unique complex”- Kryemadhi said.

Prime Minister Rama urged to find ways for this project to be completed with all the elements, especially lighting.

With an investment of over 220 million, urban interventions start with the revitalization of the square centre “Besëlidhja”, the square “Gjergj Kastrioti” along with the requalification of the park in front of the Skanderbeg memorial.

The Prime Minister inspected the progress of the project “Rehabilitation of the Drin River.” With a fund of 30 million leke, urban requalification will affect the river that crosses the city, along which the pedestrian area and bicycle lanes will be built along with areas, where 1000 trees and another 2400 decorative plants will be planted.

Mayor of Lezha Viktor Tushaj, speaking about projects’ details, highlighted the fact that the lighting system for the city will also be a novelty. In addition, he stressed the importance paid to building playgrounds. “This is the entrance to the city, with greenery and lighting with solar panels. After completing this first phase, together with the Albanian Development Fund, we will transform the square into a pedestrian area completed with bike lanes. There is also the project we have with the Ministry of Education for the new kindergarten and two playgrounds, one of which will be completely new.”

The Prime Minister said that the transformation of Lezha has started, first of all, out of respect for what this city represents for the country, with its museum area, but also with the cleaning and rehabilitation of the river that crosses the city, which the Prime Minister described as the other “Lana”.

“By starting from the city centre, we start also out of respect for one of the most precious stones of history and our cultural and historical heritage, which is exactly the centre around which the today town of Lezha is built. We start exactly right here, in the square next to the memorial of Skanderbeg, which has been forgotten since the time of dictatorship and has turned into a parking lot for cars. We start from this area to connect the new city centre with the river that crosses the city which until today, being the municipality totally unable to do whatsoever due to lack of support by the government in Tirana, had become similar to the former river Lana in the capital city, while today is starting to turn into a green area that will play a role also in the microclimate of the city and will become one of the areas most frequented by families”- the Prime Minister said.

Besides noting that even for Lezha, investments in 4 years will equal investments that have not been done in the past 20 years together, the Prime Minister announced another important project for its economic development, the establishment of an industrial zone.

“This is just the beginning. It makes me laugh when I say this, because it reminds me of some people who were afraid of it. I assure you that we will stand to the commitment that in four years we will do for Lezha what has not been done in 20 years together. But not only that. What we will do for Lezha will give the opportunity to young women and men and to families in this city to see their future here. I believe that very soon we will crown also the big project of the industrial zone, which of course will be built outside the current city, but that will allow the new Municipality of Lezha to have another pole of  economic development.”

Besides highlighting an essential element of the project for redesigning urban cities, which are green spaces, Prime Minister Rama said the Government would stand to its commitment to make greenery become part of citizens’ everyday life.

“We have made ​​a commitment that in these 4 years we will plant in Albania more trees than have been planted in 20 years, taken together. We know that this is not enough to heal all the wounds of the total, massive destruction of forests, roads and any former green area, but we are convinced that this will lay the foundations of a green Albania and of communities where greenery will become part of their daily life, as an indicator of health and beauty.”

In this regard, Minister of Environment Lefter Koka said that “we have been focused on sowing and not on eradicating, as it has happened in more than 20 years.”

According to Prime Minister Rama, all these interventions will create an integrated area with all the other elements that bring social functionality and give back to the community public spaces. “I am not saying that after these projects are completed, Lezha will be second only to Berlin. I cannot tell you this, but I will tell you just this: after these projects are implemented, all those who expect change to happen, even beyond these projects, will be much more hopeful and much closer to change.”