A memorandum of cooperation was signed on Wednesday (10 August) between Eagle Hills Real Estate Development shpk and Albanian Seaports Development Company for the construction of the tourist port of Durres worth some $2 billion.
The deal seeks to turn the port into a hub for tourists, trade, and luxury travel and will include a yacht marina, shops, apartments, and leisure and hospitality facilities.
Prime Minister Edi Rama said it would be the largest tourism investment in the region.
“It would be unimaginable to have such an investment in tourism in a country that started to develop as a country with a competitive tourist vision when we took over the government,” said Rama.
He added it would make the Durres port a twin of the Dubai marina, and it will change the country’s economy forever.
“With the construction of this port, the property value of all the citizens of Durres will increase exponentially, and the value of all the hotels on the coastline will increase. This is about the completely different image that Albania will have in the world,” he said.
Geri Selenica, head of the Albanian Center for Strategic Studies, told Euronews that the investment would have a domino effect, bringing other assets to the country.
“The investment does not turn it into a commercial port; it turns Durrës into a Dubai in the Balkans that is 1-2 hours from the capitals of Europe. Here will come new professionals who can work online from here in their countries. There is to be a major development for Durrës, which is currently destroyed from an urban point of view. Such an investment can generate hundreds of millions of euros per year for the local economy alone,” said Selenica.
The port was previously owned by the Durres Yacht & Marina company. On 21 July, the Council of Ministers transferred the entire structure to the company that will construct the project. It includes 5.4 hectares of land, including the existing port buildings.
