More and more quake-affected families in the municipality of Shijak are constantly returning to their newly-built homes as part of the ongoing reconstruction program in the wake of the earthquake that hit Albania on November 26 last year. Today, Prime Minister Edi Rama, accompanied by Shijak Mayor Elton Arbana, and the Minister of State for Reconstruction, Arben Ahmetaj, visited the administrative unit of Maminas, where a total of 150 single-family homes are being built under the post-earthquake recovery and reconstruction program.
“Some 150 new private homes are being built in Maminas administrative unit only out of a total of 567 houses being rebuilt in the Municipality of Shijak. A total of 21 dwellings are being built in this neighbourhood only, with 8 of them already complete and 13 more new ones to complete ahead of December 25,” Shijak Mayor Arbana said, adding that work is intensely underway on all reconstruction projects in entire Shijak municipality.
PM Rama handed over the keys to the new houses to several benefiting families in Maminas. The son of one of the families lives and works abroad and he started building a new house adjacent to his parents’ home 10 years ago. “Their son commenced building a similar house 10 years ago and construction work has yet to complete, while we deliver the new house in just 130 days,” Shijak Mayor said.
“A total of 400 quake-affected families will receive the keys to their new houses ahead of 31 December, whereas based on the amendment to the decision, some 85 families that were supposed to have their houses built on the site of the old dwellings will instead receive complete funding as it is impossible to implement construction projects in the area due to the land’s geological composition. These families, depending on the number of their members, are eligible to benefit funds ranging from 21.000 to 25.000 euros,” Reconstruction Minister Ahmetaj said.
The new houses for the quake-affected families are being built to provide larger and more comfortable living spaces, safer, stronger and more beautiful structures than the ones they lost due to the devastating tremor on Nov 26 last year.
