The damaged residential buildings after the devastating earthquake last November in Shijak are undergoing a repair and maintenance project and work progresses rapidly to repair 27 apartment buildings with damage level equal to the DS1-DS3 category in a bid to complete the project by early December. Local inhabitants residing in these residential buildings will celebrate the New Year’s Eve in their better, stronger and more beautiful homes than the ones they used to live in prior to the last year’s earthquake.

Prime Minister Edi Rama today inspected the ongoing repair work on a residential building in the town of Shijak accompanied by Shijak Mayor Elton Arbana and the Minister of State for Reconstruction Arben Ahmetaj. The repair work here is nearing completion.  “The repair work included façade retrofitting, the reinforcement of the building’s structure, and repair of every apartment. In the meantime, the rooftop water tanks have been removed and they have been replaced by two bigger ground water tanks to provide constant water supply to residents,” Shijak Mayor said.

Citizens residing in these apartments have been receiving bonus rent after their homes sustained damages equal to DS3 category level. In addition to the repair and maintenance project on the residential building, the square in front of the building, once a parking lot, has been rehabilitated and has been transformed into a public recreational space.

“Our houses sustained serious damages due to the earthquake,” one of the newly-reconstructed apartments said, adding that the partition walls are badly built. “Excellent repair work has been done now,” he noted.

PM Rama praised the great work that has been done under the auspices of Shijak Mayor Arbana, and highlighted increase in value of the apartments after reconstruction.

Work continues also to construct the new individual homes for the affected families in this central Albania municipality, while the families are gradually moving into their newly-built homes.

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Quake affected families in Xhafzotaj, too, are moving into their new homes. In the meantime, work continues ceaselessly to build new houses for the families affected by the earthquake last November. Some 300 families will celebrate the New Year’s Eve in their new houses, starting a new life after the tragic earthquake that hit the country on November 26 last year.