Discussions at the third meeting of the National Rebuilding Committee:
Prime Minister Edi Rama: Good afternoon everyone!
Thank you very much for attending the meeting!
We hold today the third meeting of the National Rebuilding Committee. At today’s meeting I think we will be able not only discuss, just like it was the case at the previous meetings, but also take stock of the concrete job that has been already done both in the aspect of drafting the legal and administrative framework and in the aspect of planning.
But before I give the floor to the plenipotentiary head of the emergency situation to provide an update on the situation, I would like to share with you the opinion that given that the Chairman of the National Rebuilding Committee, Mr. Ahmetaj has been appointed as the Minister of State for Reconstruction, I think it would be worth naming a Secretary of the Committee and I would be pleased to propose Mr. Hoxholli, – with whom we share a very positive working experience, but who also represents the humanitarian organizations involved in our efforts to take the process forward, thus ensuring a direct participation also in the coordination process, delivering on a concrete interaction with other stakeholders, primarily with the government, to ensure aspects of transparency.
Meanwhile, I will give the floor to the plenipotentiary Chairman of the National Emergency Committee, Mr. Çuçi, and then Mr. Ahmetaj and Mrs. Margariti, to provide an update on what has been done to date and create an idea to the public on the preparations in terms of the rebuilding planning.
Chairman of the National Emergency Committee Bledi Çuci: Thank you Mr. Prime Minister! Allow me to provide a summary and updated report on the current situation of all families affected by the Nov 26 earthquake, starting with the most important part regarding housing and accommodation of the quake-affected people, who have been forced to leave their homes due to the serious earthquake damages.
As many as 3613 residents are currently accommodated in hotels, while 10225 others are sheltered in winter tents, with the highest number of them recorded in the district of Durres, including Kruja municipality with 6078 homeless people, and Tirana with 2421, and 1709 other residents in Lezha who are housed in tents.
I want to emphasize the fact that the inhabitants housed in tents are from rural areas and it is their desire to stay in the tents because they are closely linked to the land, livestock and their damaged homes.
With regards to the damage assessment process, as of yesterday the inspection teams have checked around 39310 buildings for damages.
If we are to take a look at the live updates, their number might have increased to over 40,000 today. Some 3580 private homes and apartments in Durres district have been declared inhabitable; 1352 buildings in Tirana and 1232 buildings in the district of Lezha. The data is being updated every second. This system includes files on each inspected home, containing photo images and the signatures of engineers and members of the inspection teams.
As many as 72 damaged buildings have been demolished to date, respectively 55 buildings in Durres, 10 in Tirana and 7 buildings in Lezha.
As for the long-term housing actions, as you are aware, we are applying the rental bonus being provided to every quake-affected families as follows:
Some 1310 families are eligible to the rental bonus in Durres district.
A total of 1187 in the municipality of Shijak.
Around 2274 families have been awarded the rental bonus in Tirana.
Some 499 families in Vora, 976 in Kavaja municipalities, and 270 families in Kamza municipality have been also granted the rental bonus.
Some 610 families have been awarded the rental bonus in Kurbin municipality and 160 others in Lezha.
As for the initial and swift actions to repair damaged buildings, without including reconstruction works in damaged apartment buildings, we have applied an accelerated procedure for issuing construction permits by the local government authorities. Tirana municipality has issued 887 construction permits in both rural and urban areas to date, whereas Durres municipality has issued 12 construction permits, with construction works on six of them already underway.
Some 8 people are still hospitalized at University Trauma Hospital.
Three people are receiving specialized treatment in hospitals abroad, while medical teams are providing 24-hour care service for the residents housed in accommodating units.
As for the education infrastructure, some 53 school buildings have been seriously damaged due to earthquake. These schools have suspended lessons and schoolchildren and students are currently attending lessons in adjacent schools.
Durres district is the worst-hit area with 32 school buildings seriously damaged, 14 schools in Tirana and seven school buildings in Lezha. Some 28 school buildings have been reconstructed and lessons have resumed normally.
On the other hand, together with our international partners we are engaged in intense work to complete the Post Disaster Need Assessment Report. The report will be the result of cooperation between the government of Albania, the European Union, World Bank and all United Nations agencies. According to a schedule we have prepared with the Minister for Reconstruction, who will provide more details, we will introduce an initial draft report by mid-January and the complete report will be then ready for the international donors’ conference.
The Minister of State for Reconstruction Arben Ahmetaj: My outline will focus on the main pillars of the agenda, including a time span of at least one year and possibly a year and a half until entire reconstruction process completes.
I would briefly reiterate the report, which will be also used as a platform for discussions and cooperation with donors, in addition to the state institutions.
A total of 40711 buildings have been inspected to date. The whole process will help us not only to assess damages, but also plan reconstruction projects. Minister Çuçi showed us the unified assessment system, which a contemporary system to assess even the smallest damages in the territory and it will also help us plan construction projects, the number of buildings we need to construct and the sort of the buildings.
Meanwhile, the in-depth assessment will be carried out by two entities; namely the Construction Institute and the Municipality of Tirana, which should closely cooperate by adopting the same assessment methodology. The in-depth assessment is a legal concept and it is not simply an urban concept, or technical assessment.
The final Post Disaster Need Assessment Report is very important to us as it will show us what we need to discuss with donors, as well as make budgetary plans for 2020 and 2021 and the areas where we will intervene.
I am confident that the second preliminary draft will complete by January 15. We should complete a final report by end of January so that we ready a final report ahead of the donors’ conference.
The donations amount to over 65 million lek as of yesterday. A total of 6165 donors have contributed and their number keeps growing although modestly, because it is mostly the small donors, or ordinary citizens the ones who put aside something from their own money.
I would like to highlight the fact that it is the first time in the past 30 years when an Albanian administration has to prepare a program of this kind, the legislation and procedures of this kind. It has never happened before. Countries like Greece, Turkey and Italy have done this long time ago. We had to do everything from scratch, from legislation to programs and procedures.
The programs included in the special law are: the new buildings program, the critical public infrastructure program, creation of housing fund, the construction grants program, and the social and economic recovery actions.
The territory cleaning is a very important process too. Durrës and Tirana have completed the process, as well as Laç and Thumana.
With the accelerated procedures in place, the issue concerning the construction permits is one of the most important issues we should consider and as many as 1020 home repair permits have issued to date.
Tirana, Durrës and other hardest-hit municipalities have already started the process, with citizens, constructions and firms being granted home repair permits. The program should include a fiscal incentive package. We have excluded all companies involved in the National Rebuilding Program from having to pay VAT and the infrastructure tax.
The rebuilding phases are not easy ones and they will take time. However, we have but a short time to start the rebuilding process and make possible that every quake-affected family is built a new home.
The rebuilding schedule is a detailed one. Taking notice of the discussions with the relevant involved authorities, we are confident that March of early April will mark the start of a mass construction process in the territory, whereas the process in the rural areas is expected to kick off in two months’ time.
We have also discussed issues concerning transparency. We have been working with Microsoft on developing a transparent platform not only on resources. I would urge everyone that – except the government, which sees transparency as an obligation regarding to what it does, the amount of donations it receives, who the donors are, from individuals to countries and where it will all go, every cent that is donated, to what program they will go to, families that will benefit from these programs – all organizations involved in this process do the same, so that every government institution, foundation, or individual find themselves on that transparency platform.
Prime Minister Edi Rama: There is a number of elements to point out. It is worth sharing with the public the message that this application allows everyone to trace progress of the rebuilding program, including ordinary citizens who might be interested in this process.
Secondly, I would like to emphasize a fact, because the Minister suggested a period of one to two years, but this is also divided. Our objective is to make sure that new homes are built and made available also to all affected families in rural areas, who for their own legitimate reasons have refused to move into rented homes in urban areas and have asked for a winter tent to erect in their courtyards instead.
Nobody will celebrate the 2021 New Year Eve in a tent. This is our primary objective and I believe, as you will find out during the presentation that the Minister of Culture is about to make, by early spring we will hopefully be ready to allow rural families to move into their new homes.
All damaged hospitals, health care facilities, school buildings should be reconstructed within next nine months, which means that school children should start the next academic year in brand new school buildings.
Third, our ambition is that work to construct the new residential neighborhoods begins in first half of the year. Of course, their construction will take a longer time, but our goal is to make sure that largest part of the quake-affected families start to move into their new homes by end of 2021.
The third point relates to donations, because only the part of small donations was mentioned, that is, the amount of donations collected from very small donors, but who in this case deserve the most appreciation because they have allocated something from their small household budget, or their small business to support rebuilding program, while I would like to reconsider the slide showing the donations to clarify the situation regarding donations to the state.
So, we have collected a total of 65.57 million lek provided by some 6165 small donors.
We have received 414 million lek, 8.64 million euros and 1.01 million dollars by large donors, while international donors have committed a total of 21 million euros to date.
The amount provided by the international donors will certainly change and I hope that change will be a very significant one as a result of the interactions which will culminate with the Donors’ Conference announced by the European Commission President, including other activities in the Middle East, where we are currently very active.
It remains to be seen which is going to be the final decision by the Donors’ Conference in the framework of the EU and whether non-EU donors will be included – this issue is being currently discussed – plus the donations collected by the charity organizations, which I believe will agree to publish the collected amount on the same web platform, so that these organizations provide transparency to their donors. A considerable amount of donations is now available to press ahead with the most critical part of the rebuilding program, that is making sure that rural families move into new homes in a very near future.
Another important issue concerns the start of work to repair the apartment buildings by the construction firms themselves with an accelerated procedure but with a clear exigency to respect Eurocode structural building and civil engineering structures.
Meanwhile, as for the final decision-making process on the fate of every multi-storey apartment buildings and every other damaged building, a due funding has been allocated to support the so-called in-depth study, which requires a team of expert constructors who will sign the white papers with their professional responsibility to decide whether a building is repairable, or it should be demolished. The Institute of Construction has been delegated the responsibility to proceed swiftly with the fund and the process of hiring expert teams that will be supplied with all the necessary tools, both in terms of documentation and financially in order to produce quick results.
I would like to add that inspection work is being done in an impressive way.
As the plenipotentiary head of the Emergency Committee noted this is a process that takes place on a real time on the ground.
Of course, it requires a process of monitoring as well, which we are doing to avoid abuse and superficial assessments that could translate into unnecessary financial costs.
Since even in the presentation I saw shortly, the Secretariat of the National Committee will have to commit itself to the whole process of this interaction and ensuring transparency, I am very pleased that by tasking Mr. Hoxholli with this we achieve an initial good purpose of this Committee that, not only the government guarantees transparency over itself, but also organizations and entire society, through these organizations, will be able to monitor the whole process of spending money and I mean not just donations, but also the state budget funds, or funding provided by other sources that are scanned through government engagement and enforcement instruments.
I am giving the floor to Minister of Culture to provide a voluminous, broad as well as detailed overview of everything that has been already done to make sure that a quick and transformative plan is designed, because, as I have stated from day one, it is a feeling and a legitimate wish of all people that the rebuilding program is not return to where we used to be, but a great leap in terms of planning, construction quality and in terms of housing and living conditions that will be offered to the affected residents.
I am pretty sure that we will provide much better housing conditions for the poor or middle income families whose houses have been destroyed by the earthquake.
Suffice it to consider the fact that a large part of the families currently sheltered in rented houses enjoy today much better living conditions that they used to have in their own old houses. And the truth is that poor families or low-income families are the worst-hit by the earthquake and that’s why I believe that this natural disaster can be seen a significant impetus by these families as they will be provided a golden opportunity to increase their living standards in terms of the housing conditions, education of their kids and the public services they will be provided with. I mean the regional hospital in Laç, a typical example in this situation, a dilapidated building, which will be 100% better and more decent with much better conditions than previously.
Minister of Culture Elva Margariti: As the Prime Minister noted, since the first week in the aftermath of the earthquake, we have been constantly focusing on ways to start planning as soon as possible, not only to revive hope by healing the earthquake wounds, but also create a sustainable development model that extends beyond the post-earthquake period.
The data collected by the Emergency Committee is really dynamic, providing a clear picture regarding the areas we need to move faster with the planning efforts. The rebuilding process needs substantial steps.
All the data are part of the process we needed to start and create the rebuilding steps.
The process we are talking about has to do with planning. Steps are also part of this extensive planning, starting with the needs to the long term construction work, as the Minister of Reconstruction put it, up to one and a half years, or even two years.
We are currently working to identify and approve the sites where the construction works will take place and prepare the file on each proposed site. We have planned detailed steps due to be taken by every public and non-public institution that will involve in this process. We have started identification of the sites shortly after the earthquake and together with the architects and engineers we are involved in the process of creating masterplans and implementation of projects.
In collaboration with the local government authorities and the National Territorial Planning Agency and the Committee of Emergencies we have gathered the following data:
Some five sites have been already identified in the Municipality of Kurbin and we need to speed up work on preparing the reconstruction plans there. The Municipality of Laç is one of the hardest-hit areas that has sustained considerable damages. A considerable number of apartment buildings have been seriously damaged and have been declared uninhabitable. A number of damaged buildings are being demolished, while two sites for the construction works to take place have been already identified. I would like to point out that rebuilding program will not include specific damaged areas only, but it will be implemented according to a much broader masterplan.
In the case of Laç Municipality, zone 1 is the area that has been identified as the site for the construction of 500 apartment houses in collaboration with the Ministry of Environment and Urban Planning of the Republic of Turkey. In every site, we have defined the perimeter of the potential area for reconstruction. We are specifying ownership issues, defining the state and private-owned lands, exploring possible expropriation of owners, the existing state of each area, whether it includes damaged buildings, or the need for the entire surrounding area and development capacity according to the preliminary plan, but also of a more detailed program that goes beyond the current local plans on development of these areas.
This is the file we are preparing for each perimeter already defined through all this data, and at any given moment we have a clear overview of the elements we lack for the precise clear file to move to implementation projects.
The masterplan has been created by the Turkey’s Housing Authority, which envisages the construction of residential homes. The process is still being updated as the first site we had made available was much smaller than the one we have already identified as the new site for the construction to take place. In the meantime, we are working to address not only the need for new homes, but the administrative buildings too. In this way, the area will start developing in all determined surrounding sites and the number of buildings set to be constructed in the Zone 1 allows for other zones to develop with new urban parameters. We have conducted genuine studies on each of the area and we have already prepared a number of scenarios that will be further elaborated. We have also identified other potential sites in Kurbin.  We have so far identified four worst-hit areas in the Municipality of Kruja and reconstruction plans are underway. The village of Thumane, as everyone knows is one of the hardest-hit areas and here too we are developing plans based on the very same principle, not only to reconstruct the damaged apartment buildings, but also identify the areas where a model of sustainable rural development will be created.
We have identified the zones 1, 2, where private homes are built and where we plan to create a new rural centre. Process is already underway to identify the state-owned and privately-owned land areas.
A series of concepts have been already developed. I have presented one of them just to show how the city’s centre is supposed to take a more public aspect with private homes mainly located on the right side of the map, while various development scenarios are being explored.
The houses’ typologies we think will be a typology about which a specific work has been launched to turn it into a legal model. In addition to the housing aspect and the parameters that are already being reviewed, we came up with three 1 + 1, 2 + 1 and 3 + 1 house models. We think prefabricated technology is the right technology to deliver fast results that also meet the standards of seismic-proof buildings.
In Fushe Kruja too, damages to the apartment buildings and private homes are being assessed. In the meantime, we have identified two areas where development plans may be implemented.
Kruja represents a completely different model. Given the city’s rugged terrain and the earthquake-related damages, we have identified a series of surrounding areas where construction projects will be implemented.
The village of Bubq is another rural area where the central rural model will be applied. We have identified several perimeters. Identification of the areas where rebuilding projects will take place has been a hard work, as we have tried to identify mainly state-owned land areas.
The Municipality of Vora has also sustained serious damages. There is a number of schools and other buildings that need to be reconstructed. The two initial areas we considered turned out to be mainly privately-owned than state-owned lands. We have decided that the rebuilding projects will mainly take place in the town’s centre.
We will focus on implementing the master plan on the town’s urban development. This is the moment to look beyond the current situation and seek to improve the citizens’ living standards.
In the Municipality of Lezha too we have identified several potential sites for development. We still need to distinguish between the state-owned and privately owned lands.
The Municipality of Shijak is the municipality that has sustained the most extensive damages in terms of the number of damages homes and buildings. We have identified five different areas that will all be included in a master plan for the town’s urban development, while new buildings will be constructed by respecting all urban standards and parameters. The master plan will also include projects on creating of public spaces.
These are different scenarios, different typologies that will suit the housing needs.
Durres is the municipality sustaining the highest damages. Here we are focused on two areas created following the demolition of damaged apartment buildings. We plan three types of interventions in the city of Durres, the port, the beach area and the expansion of the city.
We are considering a series of international models on development of port areas.
Spitalla is the area currently being explored not only for the residential development, but also for creation of an economic development area. The master plan includes construction of a linking road with the Durres University, an area posed for development, shortening distance with the port, the eco-park that is increasingly taking shape. The new concept will give a fresh impetus to the development of the coastal city of Durres.
These are all possible scenarios.
Ishëm, Katund i ri, and Manëz are all new realities. Significant data on these affected rural areas has been gathered and all potential development scenarios are being explored.
We have also identified four mainly state-owned areas in the Municipality of Tirana. The four areas have been part of the plans for Tirana’s development. A number of areas are being studied in the municipal unit of Kombinat where a number of apartment buildings have sustained mostly minor damages, but the area where these buildings are located may be included in this rebuilding and development program.
The area of Vaqarr is home to a small number of buildings, yet it features large territories that can become available as public spaces.
Regarding educational infrastructure, we have identified 45 school buildings in Tirana and 13 buildings in Durres that need intervention.
Progress has been also made in preparing the development concepts. The process is being carried out by the engineers and architects’ associations. We think that prefabrication technology will be the technology due to be used for a faster construction process.
PM Edi Rama: Kavaja and Lezha that were not included in this presentation are two border areas that somehow require a different approach and we are closely working with mayors and the possible development scenarios will be unveiled soon.
I would like to highlight something. Let’s consider the case of Laç, a municipality with considerable development potential and if we will succeed in doing things right, we will be able to create not only better housing conditions for those who lost their homes, but also a centre for a more dynamic local economy given that Laç attracts about 3 million tourists a year, including an increasing number of foreign visitors to the sacred site in the area, but actually shunning the town of Laç as it offers neither  attractions, nor accommodation capacities. But if the planned intervention will bring about energies of a radical transformation, just like it is the case in other towns and cities, namely Korça, Vlora, Tamare, Malësi e Madhe or Puke, then we will surely give a fresh impetus to the area and provide new opportunities for development of local household economies, encouraging them to invest in hospitality and tourism projects.
As for the cities and towns’ centre plans, it is very important to take into account also the opinions by Marin, Arber and Elvis, who are directly involved with significant funding to support the rebuilding program. It is crucial for us to convince residents in the rural areas to agree on living in more assembled or somehow denser new neighbourhoods to create rural centres and closer communities. This model’s advantage over the existing model is obvious. If a rural family lives today several kilometres away from the public services, the schoolchildren have to travel long distances on foot just to go to school or to the nearest health centre, the new model of more closely-knit neighbourhoods and communities will ultimately address all these issues. The plan on building such neighbourhoods in the Municipality of Kurbin and in the village of Vaqarr in Tirana has progressed well. The project is designed to new dynamic urban areas for living that reinvigorate unused or overlooked assets to create completely new neighbourhood model in terms of quality of urban living and urban aesthetics, addressing also challenges to quality of life, including public safety, education and health. Local residents can meanwhile keep and expand their existing land properties.
In this way they will benefit a new property, while they will make their land areas available to agriculture and livestock development.
Thumane is a very crucial area in terms of its urban and social structure. With this intervention, Thumane may undoubtedly turn into a small but important landmark throughout the map of agritourism developments, considering its nearby lake as well. If we manage to create this planned centralized neighbourhood there, the other important thing we will achieve is eliminating from Albania’s map all those dwellings of misery, those dwellings where, thanks to the contributions of solidarity organizations or our contributions as a government, we have taken many families out of those miserable conditions. But there is still a number of such families and we have identified all of them in collaboration with the Minister of Welfare.
There is a total of 2156 houses of poor families across the country that need to be transformed under these models and, building on this rebuilding program, we will certainly transform their homes. So, this is a process that will take us to a whole new level in terms of the housing policies and in terms of social policies to support needy families.
Before giving the floor to Mr. Joti, thanking him first for his contribution and for making his know-how available to this transparency app, I would like to reiterate that the three charity organizations involved in the rebuilding process have also another very important role to play and that has to do with the communication with people to convince them that this is the best solution for them. What I am saying is crucially important as we plan to build centred rural neighbourhoods, but we do not want to build ghost village centres. Again, we do not want to build more houses than necessary. In this aspect, the involved charity organizations can provide a precious contribution as they may hire more people in this process, because this not a common thing, as we are doing with mobilizing a lot more people and more funding precisely earmarked for this process. In his capacity as the Committee’s Secretary, Mr. Hoxholli, by working with institutions and organizations and through this transparency app, he will help us all a lot. We are ready to name people in order to have a complete processing office so no time is wasted in this process.
I believe we will be ready to launch the initial calls for bids by mid-January and should all coordinate our work and efforts to make sure we accept a coordinated offer. For what reason? Because the more we demand in terms of quantity, the more we are able to get more reasonable prices, with every cent worth spent in developing quality and quantity and not falling prey to abuses or the natural tendency of private companies that may seek to take advantage of the situation, just it was the case of apartment and house owners who have increased rent substantially.
Mr. Joti thank you for your contribution and the floor is yours.
Grigor Joti: Thank you! As everyone noted, this activity’s transparency is key to the process and that’s why we considered the idea to develop an app that allow citizens to track source of donations and their disbursement at a later stage. We have already developed its first section on the source of donations. The program is made up of two sections, the one for internal use, which is the data entry, and the second section the public with people being provided access to check according to the criteria they select.