Residents of the Astir neighbourhood of Tirana have taken legal action against the Municipality of Tirana, the Ministry of Infrastructure and Energy, and ARRA due to their homes being demolished and them receiving no financial compensation.
Some 600 properties have been affected by a project to widen and expand the Tirana Ring Road. The project was found to have been won by a tender, backed by a company that was formed using forged documents.
Despite the scandal and the fact the road is set to cost an unprecedented EUR 10 million per kilometre, homes are still being demolished and their inhabitants made homeless.
Many of the properties were built illegally at a time of great social and political upheaval in the mid 90s. Since then, residents have been undergoing a government-mandated legalisation process that would legalise their properties under the law. But when the new project was announced, the government stopped all legalisation processes, despite residents having paid thousands of euros to go through the process. By not legalising homes, the government avoids having to pay compensation for expropriation, or the requirement to provide alternative accommodation.
A resident of Astir told Fax News of the action they will take against the state.
“This is an urban massacre. They entered my apartment and violated me with the ARRA vest that put a red cross on my apartment and completely expropriated me from my property. None of the inhabitants of the Big Ring has been given any choice, we are in 2020, how can you claim to want to be a part of the EU when you kick your citizens out on the streets? How can a foreign investor come to Albania when we are deprived of our property and kicked out on the street?
