Prime Minister Edi Rama today inspected the ongoing work on construction of a new residential neighbourhood in Vaqarr, Tirana, where the Different Weekend Foundation is building new homes for the quake-affected families in the area.

“The construction work has entered its final phase and new houses are now being furnished. With the process complete, the Foundation, in collaboration with the Ministry of Construction, has planned to construct 50 single-family homes on this site,” the Minister of State for Reconstruction Arben Ahmetaj said.

Accompanied by Tirana Mayor Erion Veliaj, the Minister of State for Reconstruction Arben Ahmetaj and the Chairman of the Different Weekend Foundation, the government head toured the new neighbourhood, where new educational facilities, a community centre and a social and recreational centre are also being built along with the new housing units.

“Construction of 20 houses has completed. In the meantime, we have also completed construction of the civil infrastructure, the water supply, and sewerage and waste water system. The former Palace of Culture is being rehabilitated and will be adapted to serve as community centre,” Veliaj said.

“The Different Weekend Foundation will support construction of 50 new houses, not only in Tirana, in constant coordination with the Ministry for Reconstruction also regarding the list of households eligible to benefit housing, as well as about the construction patterns and the sites where the construction projects will take place,” Ahmetaj said.

PM Rama praised the builder for the work so far, saying that the new block of houses brings a new qualitative dimension to the community life. “The difference between the block of single-family homes and scattered dwellings is quite obvious. Such urban models create community and social life,” Rama said.

With the first furniture being installed in the new houses, the work will go on with construction of new school on the site of the existing school building.