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Shkruar nga Pamfleti
Others said that "more infrastructure" would only mean "more government corruption"...
The project of Jared Kushner, son-in-law of US President Donald Trump, continues to attract the attention of international media, while many questions are raised regarding the investment of 1.4 billion dollars on the island of Sazan. The latter, based on a controversial agreement between the Albanian Government of Prime Minister Edi Rama and Donald Trump's son-in-law, is expected to be transformed into a "luxury resort".
The Week has compiled a summary of what international media has reported regarding this agreement, which raises numerous questions, from ecological costs, to the risk of over-tourism, to suspicions of corruption.
Sazani, an uninhabited island near the southern city of Vlora, was an "isolated military outpost" of fascist Italy and later communist-era Albania.
Jared Kushner's investment firm, Affinity Partners, has "big plans for little Albania," writes Air Mail, adding that while "not all the plans are crazy," they have already caused a lot of opposition.
Albania, dubbed the "North Korea of Europe" during the years of communism, has remained one of the last undeveloped countries in Western Europe.
Affinity's project includes a 1,100-acre luxury resort with 6,000 hotel rooms and villas. Architectural plans for the project show "multi-story modernist structures" built along the shore, dunes and headlands around the Narta Lagoon, a site currently "prized by ecologists for its rich bird diversity," The New York Times reports.
At Sazan, which lies about 6 miles offshore from the edge of the lagoon, within a national marine park, the firm wants to build a 1,400-acre "luxury" tourist complex.
The island's landscape is "Jurassic," writes The Guardian. Further writing about the vegetation cultivated on the island, the British media speaks of "ferns, giant lavender, plumbago, rosemary, laurels," which grow in the central part, while describing the sunset as "dazzling."
Suspicions of corruption
Negotiations for the sale of Sazan were "kept secret" from the public and parliamentarians, who were unaware of the $1.4 billion deal until it was reported in the media.
These reports "have sparked discontent among some local landowners, who question whether the Albanian government is appealing to Mr. Kushner to curry political favor from his father-in-law," The New York Times writes.
The Prime Minister, Edi Rama, has strongly denied this suspicion.
With Sazan "on the verge" of becoming a "Mecca for ultra-luxury tourism," there are many questions from environmentalists, writes The Guardian.
The area is "precious for its biodiversity," the NYT writes. A local ornithologist said there would be an "enormous" ecological and economic cost to the development.
Kushner, who is married to the US president's daughter, Ivanka Trump, and his team have dismissed the concerns. Asher Abehsera, the executive overseeing the development, said the firm recognizes the area's "rich biodiversity and natural landscape" and has a "master plan" designed to "restore and enhance ecological conditions."
But even so, locals have "expressed fears of overcrowding" and water shortages, or that they would lose their land or public access to the lagoon and beaches.
Others said that "more infrastructure" would only mean "more government corruption."
Albanians “are not against tourism,” said one of them. They are simply “against tourism that will destroy our land and traditions.” / Adapted from The Week Pamphlet/
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