Work is progressing rapidly to reconstruct minor damages to some 459 apartment buildings that have sustained damage level equal to DS1-DS2-DS3 Durres. Work in the two remaining lots will begin soon, bringing to 647 the number of buildings where the process of interior repairs will complete in the first two months of next year.
Prime Minister Edi Rama today visited Durres to closely inspect the progress of repair work. “Reconstruction of 459 apartment buildings in seven lots is set to complete by end of December, whereas the total of 647 apartment buildings will complete by early January. This means that 6200 families will return to normality within next January. It is a significant number. While projects are currently being designed and work has yet to begin to reconstruct as many as 124 apartment buildings that have sustained damage level equal to DS4. First financing request has been already filed with the Ministry of Finance. The design process has already completed for the first six apartment buildings and this is the reason we state work is underway on all aspects of the post-earthquake reconstruction process in Durres,” Durres Mayor Emiriana Sako said.
The Minister of State for the Reconstruction Arben Ahmetaj added that the funding will be allocated for reconstruction of buildings with damages equal to DS4 level in December and January, as well as under the next year’s state budget for the work to complete within next April.
In the meantime, the government compensation grant has been distributed to the largest part of the quake-affected families. “Cash compensation in the amount of $35 million has been already distributed and a total of $10 million will be allocated to support reconstruction of the communal areas. We already delivered the compensation grant to a total of 9300 families, accounting for 90 percent of the total of affected families in Durres,” Mayor Sako added.
The government head then visited a recently rebuilt apartment in a building with damage level equal to DS3. With the compensation grant provided by the Municipality of Durres, this affected family has repaired all damages, giving the apartment a completely new look. “We thank the government and Durres Municipality for the assistance to cope with the earthquake consequences. We are really grateful,” the family head said.
In the meantime, work is also underway in the first construction site to build new apartment buildings, while construction work in the remaining sites is scheduled to kick off in the next 60 days, including the major reconstruction site to build the new residential neighbourhood in Spitalle. “This is one of the apartment buildings due to be rebuilt on the site of the damaged building, but the new structure will include underground pile foundations because of the soft soil geology of the land. An eight-story brand new building will be built on the site of the previous six-storey structure to house a total of 48 families from 36 families previously. This is the first apartment building in the first lot, while the project with the support from Abu Dhabi is set to begin in the next 30 days,” Ahmetaj said.
