The Municipality of Vora is going through a total transformation with the post-earthquake reconstruction sites launched both in urban centre and the rural suburbs. Hundreds of single-family dwellings and dozens of residential buildings sustained structural damages and were deemed uninhabitable following the devastating earthquake on November 26, 2019 and will now be replaced with new constructions, which will be built back to be better, larger and safer homes for the quake-affected families.

The affected families will now move not only into new apartments, but they will also be living in new residential neighbourhoods with completely different urban standards.

Prime Minister Edi Rama today visited the site where the groundbreaking work kicked off to construct new residential buildings in Vora.

“This is the site that will host a brand new infrastructure and eight residential buildings for some 107 families. The work to build new infrastructure commenced today, whereas due procedures for construction of the apartment buildings have completed,” the Reconstruction Minister Arben Ahmetaj said.

In a conversation with the builders, the government head praised the project designs and expressed interest in the projects’ specific aspects. “The entire site covers a three-ha land area selected to host the reconstruction projects that include the underground infrastructure, water supply network, the sewerage and wastewater systems, power lines and other civil engineering works,” the construction expert said as he familiarized PM Rama with the project.

On his part, the Minister of State for Reconstruction invited opposition leaders and officials to visit the construction sites and see the ongoing work on the ground for themselves. “It is quite interesting as opposition officials have visited the site few weeks ago and claimed that no construction work was going on. Without wanting to sound cynical, I would like to invite an opposition representative, who would wish to see things for himself and I would invite them to join our inspection tours to see the reality for themselves,” Ahmetaj said.

PM Rama likened the work on the construction site with the governance cycle. “The work on construction sites is like the governments’ cycle. Seven years ago, when we took office, we found the country as if it was hit by a powerful earthquake in terms of the economy, the finances, the huge debt, the holes and piles of ruins in every system, in health system, education, public administration and every other sector. And today, around at the end of our second term in office, the country is like this construction site, where the foundations have been laid, the main axis have been opened, and construction is well underway and it is now the moment of choosing whether “this process has to move on and complete” or “let the excavators become kiosks” and send Albania back to where it was few years ago.”