Fusha shpk will continue with its project to build residential towers in the vicinity of the National Theater area, according to the publicly known project it has commissioned from Danish architect Bjarke Ingels. Also, the company will give this project for free to the Municipality of Tirana.
The statements come from Fusha shpk owner, Shkelqim Fusha, who spoke to TVT on Thursday.
“My wish is to develop my property. I will definitely stick to my part. If the Municipality deems it in its interest, it can join the construction. This part falls into a later stage. It would be good for the cooperation to work.”
Fusha said he was disappointed with the disruption of the first plan due to the government’s “expanded requirements that upset my economic balance”.
The Municipality of Tirana has also stated earlier that the previous plan could not be implemented because private companies were not able to meet the high requirements of the government. Hence, they decided to build the new theater with public money.
Fusha owns less than 300 sq. meters in the area adjacent to the now demolished theater. Bjarke Ingels’ project covers an area about 10,000 sq. meters.
The businessman said that the future cooperation with the Municipality of Tirana will depend on whether the Municipality will want to exchange land with constructed space in the company’s towers.
“Now our cooperation should start for a second time, whether we’re in favor or against private construction. We’re always talking about private construction here, be it one or two towers, which means that what’s left over [from the land] still belongs to the Municipality [to be used] as square,” Fusha said.
Exit News had already warned several times, long before the demolition, that this was Prime Minister Edi Rama’s plan after failing to quietly implement the special law that awarded the land to Fusha shpk. By transferring ownership of the land from the government to the municipality, Rama got rid of some of the legal responsibilities, while the municipality can still award the land to private companies, as it has done before.
