Hundreds of families that were left homeless due to the devastating earthquake on November 26, 2019, moved to their newly-built, more resilient and bigger homes in the village of Zall Herr, Tirana, as work completed on construction of the post-earthquake residential neighbourhood for the affected families.

Prime Minister Edi Rama, accompanied by Tirana Mayor Erion Veliaj, joined local residents in Zall Herr as they moved into their new homes and together inaugurate the decent space now available to these residents, a project under the post-earthquake Reconstruction Programme that was launched by the Albanian government in the wake of the devastating earthquake and that is turning the natural disaster into a potential for transformation and development of the rural areas and the affected neighbourhoods.

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Hello everyone. I would like to underline that this is an incredibly beautiful moment of the really tough reconstruction programme and it is really an exciting moment as you actually feel and experience firsthand and very up close how good politics can be. This is one of those moments when you pardon everyone and everything –  and I don’t mean exhaustion, because it is not of the things I care about and because as soon as I would feel tired and exhausted I would stop doing this job and I wouldn’t ever again wish to do such a job – but I mean whole smear campaign and allegations, criticism and abusive language, because what matters most is the work you deliver on and what remains there is what you do. What we have delivered on is actually this residential complex with its newly-built homes that open doors for 199 quake-affected families that from now on will have a shelter and a house they wouldn’t be able to build on their own; they now have  much better, stronger, bigger and more beautiful homes than the ones they lost in the quake, as well a home within a community, with no family or household living in remote areas, but they have been grouped together and they now have the community centre, a new school for their kids, as well as other public services in their vicinity. Moreover, they are now owners of a property or a brand new house they all benefit for free, without having to pay any loan or financial liability, but they enjoy the expression of our whole solidarity and commitment not to let anyone alone at that very dramatic moment, when several families unfortunately lost even their beloved ones and when thousands of affected families became homeless.

It is now definitely up to you to maintain this so beautiful neighbourhood. It is up to you not to build fences and not involve in disputes with one another; it is us to you not to build additional illegal constructions as some greedy individuals actually do right at the heart of Tirana. However, we will confiscate these illegal buildings and every additional construction built illegally to provide shelter for the families in need for shelter  or we will force them to pay for each square meter, not at the real price, but according to the indexation rate, in addition to the hefty fine they would have to pay, or they would have to buy these illegal constructions themselves so that we can provide compensation for a part of the families affected by the New Ring Road project.

No legalization opportunity will be offered from now on for the additional illegal buildings and structures, while we will further stiffen the law on illegal constructions.

Most importantly, this is an operation that will be expanded throughout Albania, because it may sound paradoxical, but Tirana faces least problem in this aspect, as other parts of the country have been affected by the illegal construction activities badly. Coastal areas have been affected mostly and a lot of work remains to be done and what you have already seen is just the beginning of a process.

The ongoing “Our Coast” operation was launched prior to the summer tourist season and it will continue to further expand, targeting all of those who have built greedily for profitable purposes. The same is happening with the illegally-built hotels or accommodation facilities and we will do the same thing when it comes to the business centres or business premises and people will be provided their share from all of these illegally built structures.

The pension re-indexation will take place regularly and it won’t be a decision with an effect lasting several months only. The same will be the case with the economic assistance and the female family heads with two or more children. The increase of the monthly minimum wage will also remain in force permanently. In the meantime, we have definitely collected significantly high revenues in state budget collections, which will be used to maintain the electricity price unchanged for you.

I would like to thank each and every one of you and there are certainly both DP and Socialist supporters among this huge crowd, but, as you can see for yourselves, your houses are all the same.

We will keep doing the best for you , although we may sometimes make mistakes. Things that shouldn’t happen actually take place in the process. However, you should all know that we are not self-complacent at all and this is the most important thing. 

Thank you!