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E-TJERA

Massive constructions in Tirana, expert: Either they are financed by crime money or there is no economic logic

Politiko 2025-07-02 16:18:56

Massive constructions in Tirana, expert: Either they are financed by crime money

Economic expert Klodian Muço commented on the situation with construction in Albania and the narco-euro economy.

According to him, construction has a total dependence on criminal money and is considered the sector most prone to money recycling.

He also emphasized that when the population has a decreasing trend, the permits issued in Albania have an increasing trend, something is wrong.

"I am making a very brief synthesis. What has been noticed in recent years is a formation of our local currency in relation to foreign currencies. Initially, the Bank of Albania or many institutions in Albania declare that the continuous strengthening of our local currency comes as a result of economic performance and tourism. But we have seen that last year during the July-August period at the peak of the euro tourist season, this not only did not depreciate but had a moment of strengthening. This shows that this depreciation over the years has not come as a result of tourism but of other exogenous factors. And one of these is the tourism sector being discussed. We have seen many cases from SPAK how certain companies or criminal groups have invested in the real estate sector, have also opened construction companies. The latest case is of the Elbasan criminal group how they had a construction company that dealt with the construction of villas or palaces in Tirana. Dozens of properties have also been seized by SPAK, which shows in a way that one of the sectors, but this, not only in Albania, we must be accurate in this regard. The construction sector is considered the sector most predisposed to recycling money. In such conditions when the population has a decreasing trend, the permits issued in Albania have an increasing trend, there is something wrong, so the supply does not increase without increasing demand, and this comes from external factors that come from criminal money.

What was noticed with the 2023 census was 39,700 thousand empty apartments in Tirana. But if we also take into account private housing according to the 2023 census, it exceeded 52 thousand in the city of Tirana. If we were to go to the district level, it would exceed 72 thousand entries. On the other hand, in the last two years alone, over 3 million square meters of building permits have been granted in Tirana, which shows that on the one hand you have tens of thousands of empty apartments and on the other hand you are significantly increasing the permits granted per square meter, which shows that this situation is either financed by crime money or has no economic logic. Another equally important aspect is that there is an increase in prices per square meter that has come as a result of the devaluation of the Euro.

Specifically, in the Astir area, prices in 2020 were 500-550 euros per square meter. Meanwhile, today they reach the value of 1500 euros. But always taking into account the Albanian reality, which is always strange, these 1500 euros per square meter also include common spaces. So if we add common spaces, we can go to 1800 euros per square meter. The price now in the small ring has increased to 2000 euros per square meter, which shows that ordinary citizens cannot buy them with these values... ", said Muço on Syri TV