A total of 120 new single-family homes are being built for the quake-affected families that will in the Gjepalaj administrative unit in Shijak Municipality as part of the ongoing reconstruction program in the wake of the devastating earthquake that hit Albania on November26 last year. All the affected families in Gjepalaj will be able to celebrate the New Year’s Eve in their new houses.

Today, Prime Minister Edi Rama, accompanied by the Minister of State for Reconstruction Arben Ahmetaj, and the Mayor of Shijak Elton Arbana, visited the new homes of the Gjepali, Rusi and Doda families in the village of Gjepalaj, saying all these families will now live in much larger, stronger and safer houses and in better housing conditions than a year ago.

“Construction of some 400 new houses will complete ahead of Dec 31. We need to push the construction companies to programme their working day into two shifts. However, construction of all new houses will complete during the period between next March and May.  In the meantime, we have allowed a part of the affected residents to carry out the construction work themselves after providing them the government compensation grant. They will receive cash compensation and conduct the construction work as they wish. I believe this would speed up construction process,” Reconstruction Minister Ahmetaj said.

Handing over keys to the new houses of several families, PM Rama said “the worst is over and the best of days lie ahead of everyone now.”

Construction of a total of 400 individual houses will complete during the period between next March and May  in Shijak municipality only. The quake-affected residents, who received the keys to their new dwellings,  expressed gratitude, also acknowledging they were originally somehow unenthusiastic about the Reconstruction Program.

The quake-affected families in Shijak, just like in every other affected area in the country, have received rental bonus during this whole period until they move into their new houses. “The number of families housed in tents has been significantly reduced. Some 250 families have received compensation under the government compensation grants and have already moved into their repaired homes. The number of families receiving rental bonus has been reduced too,” Shijak Mayor noted.