Speech of Prime Minister Edi Rama at a meeting with residents in Shijak, for the distribution of the legalization certificates:
When I was told today about this meeting, Artan Lame and the staff of my cabinet were about to have a discussion because you know very well that these are some very important days for a very major issue. I told them, I will go to Shijak, and I am really happy to be here. Moreover, I didn’t want to miss the chance to see such an extraordinary transformation of your city centre, and to be here with you to assure you that this work will continue.
It is true that we have started working and have done a lot for the city centres, but this is just a good beginning of a work that will be extended further. We are now working to secure funding for the river bed, which is a major obstacle and constantly creates consequences when the river overflows. We will continue with public works, will continue supporting the municipality of Shijak and the mayor, will continue supporting this community which is truly a great community of citizens, which I can tell from what I’m seeing today. So thank you for your hospitality.
As for the legalizations, figures speak for themselves. We were in Shijak in February 2015 and we talked about a major inherited problem that had become a major obstacle for all families seeking legalization, for they had a problem with the property registration office, and the problem was that no registration of properties was done in 25 years. There were no records, no real estate treasure, and this is something you know very well.
In 8 years of the Democratic Party ruling – I don’t want to talk much about the Democratic Party, for they’re doing meetings on what to do, on whether they should declare war to America or join the people, so they’d rather not be disturbed – at that time only 7 legalizations were made across Shijak. An area were the DP has not been treated badly, but on the contrary it has been supported by democrat fans and supporters who have given the DP not a few votes, and what did they have in return? Just 7 legalizations in only 8 years, and among these 7 legalizations there is no building for residential use for average families, but all 7 are restaurants. Meanwhile, people have struggled in vain.
Today we are distributing 1001 legalization permits in 1001, which means that 1001 families present in this square will be from now on legal owners of their houses. In addition, there are approximately 250 objects that have a particular problem under the current legislation, but to solve which we will do everything we can by intervening in the legislation. The history of legalization has been full of obstacles in relation to the legal basis.
Another figure which I believe is very important, is that the current pace of legalization in the country is from 4.500 to 5.000 legalization per month, which means that at this pace we legalize across Albania in 4 months what the Democratic Party legalized in 8 every, so every 4 years equal to 8 years of the previous government. We do in one year – this is very easy to count – what they would have done in 21 years.
