The construction of the 35-story 'Hotel Rozafa Tower' in Shkodër gathered dozens of citizens and activists in protest yesterday afternoon.
The tower is a private investment that will be built next to the existing Rozafa building, by "Uldedaj Group", implemented by a Spanish studio.
"Decided before a fait accompli at a time when such large projects require public hearings; worried about the urban and architectural damage that this tower warns of Shkodra; outraged by the institutions' disrespect of our right to the city and the space we live in, we decided to march today with you against the concreting of the city to say: No to the towers!" - said activist Amel Pervizi.
According to the citizens, the development of the city does not come through the towers, while this investment contradicts the general local plan of the city.
"The new project has no less than 43 thousand meters of new construction. The construction intensity from 4, which is allowed in the general local plan, goes to 8.2, that is, it doubles. The allowed number of storeys from 7 allowed storeys goes to 35, i.e. fivefold. The height in meters from 29.8 meters allowed goes up to 100 meters high. Parameter which is tripled. As for the distances, this building with this height must maintain no less than 36 meters distance from its property boundary. Which he can't do", -said urban planner Imeldi Sokoli.
They emphasized that Shkodra needs spaces and public investments and not an image of the "renaissance capital".
"Today we are called to be the lord of our city, the beauty of our city, the culture of our city, history and cultural heritage. In 11 years, this government did not bring any investment to Shkodra. Shkodra has great needs, Shkodra has buildings, cultural monuments that are falling inside. Shkodra does not need towers, Shkodra needs development and if we talk about innovation, innovation is not a tower built and brought here outside of all criteria and outside of all laws. We do not want and do not accept the concreting of Shkodra", - said Eliona Shkreli, member of the Shkodër municipal council.
Between callsStop concreting" and "Towers are money laundering" the citizens marched from the bust of Luigj Gurakuqi towards the Shkodër municipality building, where they demanded the realization of public hearings and consultations with interest groups.
"One of the companies, part of the Rozafa Group that will invest in the tower, is alerted with a letter for non-payment of tax obligations in the amount of 970 thousand euros. If we collect the declared profits of this group, they will not even be able to pay off the construction tax of 8% to the municipality of Shkodër, if this investment of 30 million euros is realized. What do you think, is this company really behind this build? The development should be done following the urban plan of the city, making transparency and consulting", - said Amel Pervizi.
In the megaphone, Vjollca Lace Faja also expressed the long ordeal of property rights, according to which the land where the Rozafa Hotel is built belongs to their family and the religious communities of the city.
"We have been in the courts for 30 or so years, we fight with all the systems, with all the governments, with all the trials won. We had the documents in the state enforcement, as this is property and must be returned to the state before. According to the law, the owner of the land has the first right to pre-emption, so it must be given to us, the owners of the land. But the state does not act", - said Vjollca.
Read more: "The new Rozafa of Shkodra", the 35-story tower raises public debates about the city's identity
Erisa Kryeziu has completed higher studies in Journalism and Communication and Master of Science in Public Relations at the University of Tirana. She has been a journalist and project manager at Citizens.al for five years, where she reports on social issues and human rights, especially on issues of rights at work, in education, gender equality, marginalized groups, people with disabilities such as and for environmental issues. At the same time, she works as a project coordinator with a focus on youth and media education. User of new reporting techniques such as "Mobile Journalism" and citizen engagement tools in reporting (ECR-Engage Citizens Journalism).
