The Municipality of Tirana will spend about EUR 5.7 million to rehabilitate the 600-meter long Zogu I Boulevard, from Skanderbeg Square to the former Train Station. Starting from March 12, companies have one month to submit bids.
No related document, study, analysis or technical project was published, and no official announcement was made by the Municipality of Tirana. Mayor Veliaj mentioned the project only once in November 2018, saying:
“Our ambition is to transform the Zogu I Boulevard […] into a shopping street, as we did with the New Bazaar.
We will fix all the facades, expand the pavement even more, construct four squares and four smaller squares. It will be one of the most beautiful streets in Tirana, not much different from the New Boulevard.”
In April 2018, the Municipality of Tirana opened calls for tenders for the project design for the rehabilitation of Zogu I Boulevard. The contract worth about EUR 90 thousand was awarded to the “I RI” studio owned by 51N4E design studio– a company close to Prime Minister Edi Rama which has designed the new Skanderbeg Square – and architect Gent Agolli, also part of 51N4E staff in Tirana and coordinator of the Skanderbeg Square reconstruction project.
The 124-page-long study and design by “I RI” does not include a complete project, but only technical specifications of the future works. No explanation is given as to where will the fountains, mini-squares or kiosks be located.
The project does not appear on the website of the municipality either.
Here are a few of the interventions to be carried out that we could understand from the 124-page document.
— Replacement of the road, pavement and wastewater system;
— Construction of four new small squares with trees and decorative plants, concrete stools and kiosks;
— Construction of fountains (not clear where exactly and how big);
— Paving of roads, squares and pavements with “”natural stones”;
— Painting of building facades along the boulevard.
The Zogu I Boulevard underwent reconstruction in 2006 when Edi Rama was the mayor of Tirana.
