Albania is experiencing one of the deepest demographic crises in Europe. From around 3.2 million inhabitants in the early 2000s, the number has fallen to just 2.3 million today. The figures are clear, but urban development policies seem to ignore it.
Despite demographic contraction and mass emigration, the construction industry has continued to expand, not in function of the real needs of citizens, but according to another logic: the circulation of money in a non-transparent economy.
In the last five years, over 6 thousand permits have been granted in Albania for an area of 9.6 million m2 constructions, where 75% are given for housing. This development has occurred as Albania was emptying. The Tirana district alone has absorbed more than two-thirds of this area, about 6.8 million m2, which in approximate value translates into over 2.4 billion euros generated by this sector of the economy.
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The logic of this turnover hides the depreciation of the euro in the Albanian market. Since 2021, the euro exchange rate has fallen from 123 lek to 96 lek. An unprecedented depreciation, which according to economic experts is not related to real competition, increased production or exports, but to the increase in informal money flows, which are suspected to be mainly channeled into construction.
More is being built, and higher, while there are fewer people to live there.
This wave of construction does not stop at public spaces, schools, or historical monuments. It is fueled by an increasingly centralized and unaccountable decision-making process.
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According to an analysis by Citizens.al, at least 140 towers have been reviewed or approved in Tirana over the last decade. But only 65 of them have published decisions. The others are hidden in the agenda of the National Council for Territory and Waters (KKTU), without transparency and without public consultations.
The Territorial Development Agency (TDA) claims that every decision is accessible online, but in reality this is not the case. Public scrutiny is difficult to achieve, often leaving room for suspicions of favoritism, clientelism, and money laundering.
The powers of the KKTU have increased, while accountability has weakened. Five legal changes and at least ten government decisions have stripped local authorities of their authority, centralizing every decision. for buildings over 6 floors in a single hand: the Prime Minister.
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Thus, the towers rise higher and higher, while the light of transparency sinks deeper and deeper. Is this really urban development? And if so, who does it serve, while the population falls and the cost of living increases every day?
Erblin Vukaj has completed his studies in “Communication Sciences” and further mastered (MSc) in “European and International Journalism” at the University of Tirana. Since 2012, Vukaj has been working as a professional journalist, gaining experience in online media, print media, radio and television. He has covered various issues such as current affairs, health, environment and sports. In parallel, he has led and been involved in several research projects on the communist past in Albania.
