In general, when business enters the university, the line between knowledge and interest blurs. In a country like Albania, where private interest and construction are leading the debate on public spaces, architecture is becoming more of an instrument of the market than a reflection on urban development.
The presence of entrepreneurs, like Samir Mane, in the auditorium of the Polytechnic University of Tirana (UPT) is presented as meetings with "supporters of creativity" fundamentally questioning the idea that public universities cultivate critical thinking or simply workforce.
“Albanian architects are cheaper”
A luxury Bentley car was spotted in front of the UPT on Monday morning. From the 2017 Mulsanne Extended Wheelbase model - valued online at around €350,000 - Entrepreneur Samir Mane appeared, invited by the Faculty of Architecture and Urbanism (FAU) for an open lecture with students.
The entrepreneur, a supporter of FAU's "Recycle-Creative" competition, was welcomed by Dean Armand Vokshi and a packed auditorium.
However, for me, who attended the lecture, it seemed that the participating students were more interested in a job in the BALFIN group than in a debate on urban development and construction ethics.
So, instead of a critical conversation, the hour with Mane turned into a self-presentation about his successes as an investor. He talked about "sustainability", but avoided talking about the impact of the projects that bear his signature.
Perhaps this was what I should have expected, given the title of the lecture: "Architecture and Business - The Vision of an Entrepreneur Ahead of His Time."
Asked by Dean Vokshi about the relationship between local and foreign architects, Mane said he preferred local ones because "they know the materials, the context better and have a more reasonable price ratio". Regarding urban plans, he added that "are not clear and need to be longer term."
When asked whether he thought the construction market in Tirana was stable or not, Mane responded diplomatically:
"I don't want to be misinterpreted by my opinion, but we currently have no projects in Tirana."
This meeting prompted me to summarize in this article the story of entrepreneurship that Mane showed and the controversial aspects in the developments of his projects, mainly in construction.
Mane runs one of the largest private conglomerates in Albania that crosses borders, including Kosovo, North Macedonia, Austria, Switzerland, Greece, Italy and Canada.
His group declares over 5,000 employees in all the countries where it operates, while the largest activity remains the retail sector, through brands such as SPAR Albania, Neptun, Jumbo, and most recently Fashion Group Albania.
In the financial sector, it controls Tirana Bank, while in the field of construction and real estate it owns large projects such as Green Coast Resort & Residences, Rolling Hills, Univers City or Vlora Marina.
He often appears as "success story". Recently it was also included in Forbes as the first Albanian billionaire, but his vast expansion has sparked discussions about the concentration of economic power, the impact on the real estate market, and the links to public policies that favor large urban developments in Albania.
From trade to construction, the history of entrepreneurship
Mane started his business as a home appliance dealer in 1993 when he founded the company Alba Trade in Austria. In parallel, an investment group was launched that would be called Balkan Finance Investment (BALFIN).
He was 25 years old at the time. He had emigrated about two years after the fall of the dictatorship. He had left Albania as a geology-mining student, studies which he was unable to complete due to circumstances.
Mane showed during the open lecture that emigrating to Austria was decisive. According to him, the specifics he found in Vienna at that time made him successfully take his first steps in entrepreneurship.
"If I had done things differently by immigrating to other countries, I would say I wouldn't have done it the same way," he said.
After success with home appliances and the establishment of the Neptun subsidiary, in the early 2000s, Mane decided to finally return to Albania.
He indicated that the first investment that connected him to the construction sector was the Univers Shopping Center (QTU, 2005) on the side of the Tirana-Durrës highway.
According to him, this project with about 85 shops and recreational spaces focused on functionality and aimed to dispel skepticism that "You can't go all the way to the highway for two kilos of tomatoes."
The investment proved successful and after QTU, Mane expanded the venture into retail trade by opening a second shopping center in the east of Tirana: Tirana East Gate (TEG, 2011).
The philosophy behind this investment, with 150 shops and recreational areas, was different. According to him, it aimed for a more elite approach with a residential area of 250 villas around it: Rolling Hills.
Subsequently, the hills of Lundra and Mullet were filled with similar projects, which today extend as far as Mjull-Bathore.
"Around 1.2 billion euros have been invested by other surrounding enterprises, which have turned TEG into a reference point," Mane said proudly.
The approach as a builder brought Mane back to QTU, next to which the BALFIN group has developed a residential block of buildings called Univers City (2018-2027). He said that in this project, which aims to add about 18,000 residents to the area, the philosophy has been to guarantee “affordable apartments”.
"We no longer build just buildings, but entire urban areas that have life," said the group's leader, Erion Avrami, during the presentation of the projects.
After the QTU-TEG projects, the BALFIN group began to combine construction with tourism. The initial and largest project remains Green Coast (2015-2030) in Palasa with around 500 elite villas, 7 hotels and over 100 shops, bars and restaurants.
The project also coincided with the development of infrastructure by the government, with a tunnel (2020-24) of about 6 km that connected Palasa directly with Dukat and Vlora, avoiding Llogara.
In parallel, BALFIN continued investments in tourism with the Vala Mar project in Lalzit Bay (2017-2028), which envisaged three residential blocks with villas.
"Too bad, but I've never been there," Mane confessed during the lecture as he added that he was thinking of visiting the area soon.
Vlora Marina (2022-31), which envisages a yacht port with around 440 berths as well as a block of buildings with around 1,000 residential apartments and a hotel, is the next project for the Manes group.
Avrami then indicated that the BALFIN group also anticipates investments in Korça and Lezha. Thus, the group of the most successful entrepreneurs in the country clearly excludes the capital, unlike other large investors such as Kastrati, Nova or Fusha.
Disputed investments
Beyond the success widely reported by the media, but now also in university auditoriums, Mane has not had success in the mining sector.
He entered this sector by purchasing the chrome exploitation concessionaire in Bulqiza, “Albchrome” (ACR, 2013). Three years later, by promising investments, his group obtained a 10-year extension (until 2040) of the concession from the government.
But the constant accidents and collapses in the gallery (2015-20: 27 fatalities) sparked revolt among miners over working conditions. A group supported by the Joint Movement – which at the time acted as a Political Organization – organized a wave of protests.
Mane was put at the centre of a campaign that publicly labelled him as "oppressors of workers"In 2021, BALFIN issued the concession to the Turks of Yildirim International Mining (YIM).
Asked about this withdrawal despite investing as a mining expert, Mane said it was due to fluctuations in the price of chromium. He stressed that he did not regret the investments he had made, or the losses.
"Business in the mining sector is difficult as long as you are exposed to international stock markets with prices that fluctuate almost every day. I think I withdrew at the right time," said the head of BALFIN.
The success of the TEG shopping center, which was not discussed during the lecture, was also helped by the road infrastructure.
Mane's investment was treated by the government as "strategic" – even though there was no actual law for it at the time. The Great Ring Road project was extended about 3 km further from Sauk to Lundër to access TEG by road.
Today, the flow "of external circulation" of the capital is not a ring road. The map of the Great Ring Road resembles a pear and traffic necessarily enters the TEG roundabout, serving this shopping center and the residential area next to it.
As if this were not enough, the terminal for intercity lines for the southeast was also located next to TEG.
Thus, despite the completion of the Grand Ring Road project, the traffic generated at the TEG roundabout often requires the intervention of the traffic police.
The government's preferential treatment of entrepreneurs was later legislated through the controversial law of "Strategic Investments". Of course, Mane would not be an exception to this law, as he was among the first to benefit from the status with the Green Coast project in Palasa.
According to a research of BIRN Part of the resort was built on disputed properties, which in 2014 were being investigated by the Vlora Prosecutor's Office.
Such benefits through political or legal support have given even more voice to the labeling of Mane as an "oligarch" by opposition political groups.
Moving on, a viral video of singer Ledina Çelo, who complained this summer about the lack of water in the Green Coast, highlighted the problems with the supply.
This happened as the government faced opposition from the community of the inhabitants of Tragjasi to the project of the water supply for the coast of Dhraleo, Palasa. This project aims to obtain water from the springs of the villages beyond Llogara for the tourist resorts.
Asked what solution the BALFIN group was considering for this situation as their construction project in Palasa continues to expand and the demand for water is expected to be greater, Mane initially denied that there was such a problem, then emphasized that it was the government's duty to provide a solution.
He said that his group had invested in an osmosis system, a mini-desalination plant, and that it was currently serving the resort with a flow of about 20 liters per second.
"There is no water problem in Green Coast, we have invested and I believe that by next year this issue will be resolved," Mane first expressed himself.
"But we must emphasize that everywhere in the world, the investor does not build the infrastructure, so the investor does not bring the water," he continued.
"The state should make that investment in any way, because out of the over 1 billion euros of investments that have been made there by everyone, the state should have preceded it and made the investment that it deserves, in this sense, bring the water from wherever it wants, from Vlora, from the Moon, we don't care," he further emphasized.
The plant that Mane mentioned is understandably not enough to meet the needs of a resort with swimming pools and hundreds of villas. It can alleviate the shortage of water for domestic needs, but it cannot completely solve the problem.
What Mane clearly expects from the government is preferential treatment towards communities like Tragjasi and Dukati and "privatization" of their water source. The need to capture resources is a domino effect of coastal resorts that Albania has begun to experience now that these resorts are becoming massive.
Of course, legally, Mane and investors like him are right. The status of strategic investor guarantees them support with sewerage and water supply.
But with this approach, his resort, which is also called "Green", is not going to be as friendly to nature as it expects to enjoy the introduction of free resources into the pipes and on the other hand does not provide alternatives and sustainable solutions.
Thus, from the history of Mane's ventures, it is up to us to say and discuss that it is a kind of result of the power of economic influences in the face of the fragility of Albanian institutions to balance private interests with public ones.
In this context, if university spaces do not maintain a critical approach, they risk turning into a recruiting ground for business vision, moving away from the idea of being laboratories of ideas that question this very development model.
Read also:
- Kastrati built without permission at the former Sheraton, the institutions remained silent
- How the greed for towers alienated the area of the former Garda
- More towers, fewer people: Who is being built for in Albania?
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.
