The Albanian government will start this month the demolition of illegal buildings along the coastal road from north to south, Prime Minister Edi Rama announced on Friday.
“The demolition operation will start from Velipoja to Ksamil. Not in the middle of summer when tourists come; it will start now with zero tolerance for buildings without a permit,” Rama stresses in an event on government priorities in protecting the territory from illegal constructions.
He urged the police to start systematic inspections to sort out abuses in tourist areas, protected and cultural heritage areas. Not only those who have built illegally from scratch, but also those who have abused construction permits.
Business owners who have built illegally will pay the cleaning costs as well, he warned.
Albania has suffered from hundreds of thousands of illegal buildings in the last 30 years. Several governments have legalized a part of them throughout the years, but many families still hope they can get their homes legalized.
Rama has stated he will prioritize tourism development in his third term in office, hence demolition will start from the country’s coastline.
Demolitions of buildings deemed illegal by the current government was met with protests throughout 2019 in Tirana, when the media revealed a corrupt project for the construction of the ring road.
