A new central fire station, a building designed to meet every recognized European standards related to fire stations, not only in terms of logistics, but also in terms of the services provided to the citizens, will be built soon in the city of Berat. During his visit to Berat, where he inspected a series of fresh investments in the museum city, Prime Minister Edi Rama also visited the recently-launched construction site to rebuild the Fire Department headquarters there.

“Under this project, the city’s fire brigade will also be equipped with two brand new fire trucks donated by the Trans-Adriatic Pipeline (TAP), in addition to two existing fire trucks in use, making the fire department in Berat one of the most complete services in whole Albania, with new headquarters being rebuilt in compliance with every internationally recognized standard, new uniforms for each fire fighter to deliver best possible services to the citizens,” Berat Mayor Ervin Demo said.

The work to fully reconstruct the central fire station was not suspended despite the coronavirus pandemic and the investment is expected to transform the building into another important asset of the city known as a popular tourist destination. “With package of new investment projects and the plan to promote the city as tourist destination, we are just waiting for the pandemic to end and the number of visitors will definitely grow,” Prime Minister Rama said.

The Minister of Tourism and Environment Blendi Klosi noted that an extraordinary project on the Drobonik road will provide link between the two UNESCO World Heritage sites of Berat and Gjirokaster and it will complete the tourist ring. He added that the investments will significantly improve the city’s tourism infrastructure, including this central fire station in a city which hosts a huge number of visitors at the peak of the tourism season.

New investment projects on local tourism industry in Berat have not been hindered by the pandemic, as foreign and domestic investors have not hesitated to build or restore new hotel facilities. “For the sake of truth, if you look at the last tourist season, the situation was much better than anyone anticipated, taking into account the domestic investors and all the structures managed by the Albanians, which made it possible for a significant influx of visitors. Of course the number of visitors was not as high as it would have normally been should the city was to be visited by international visitors, yet it helped local tourism to survive,” the Premier said.