The year 2025 was ambitious for the government and the company that is managing public properties. The Albanian Investment Corporation (KISH) has turned the country into an auction house for private partners, at least "in 3D renderings".
From the island of Sazan, to towers, new stadiums and deep urban transformations, in 2025 alone there are 31 projects in Tirana (16), Durrës (6), Vlorë (4), Elbasan (1), Korçë (2), etc.
Despite the series of competitions with architecture studios and promises of development, the debate about the Corporation's work was dominated by concerns about transparency, decision-making, limited competition, and the unclear relationship between public and private benefits.
The first concerns, the closure of Sazan Island
The year began with the news that President Donald Trump's son-in-law, Jared Kushner, had obtained strategic investor status to transform part of Sazan Island into a luxury resort.
Kushner had developed this idea during a family visit summer of 2023. He made the concept public in spring 2024, at a time when public opinion in Albania had no information.
At the end of June 2025, the government created the company "Albanian State Development & Real Estate", which under the management of KISH would represent the state in partnership with Kushner's "Affinity Partners".
After this development, there was no further information.
In parallel, KISH presented a series of projects aimed at "resizing the urban landscape" where their common denominator was the granting of public spaces to private individuals for multi-storey buildings in the so-called "Bridges for Albania 2030".
In the absence of a broad public discussion about the mechanism being used, the government and KISH continued to award other projects. The next project was to award government residences in Velipoja and Vlora to a private company, to turn them into hotels.
During this period, Citizens.al showed how the calls were opened. "without competition and without reckoning", while the competitive procedures were deficient or non-transparent.
Stadiums and failure for the National Library
In early spring, OMA's project was announced as the winner for the new stadium. Selman Stermasi, which included two towers and new buildings in the area, news that sparked discussions about the use of public spaces not only for the sports facility.
The same approach was sought to be replicated with the stadiums of Durrës (51N4E), Vlorë (XDGA) and Korça (CEBRA). Citizens.al reported that the architectural competitions of these calls had shadow of conflict of interestSeveral actors involved in the competition had financial ties to the juries, raising questions about the evaluation procedures.
The winning plan for the Asllan Rusi sports palace by MVDRV was presented as a "20-story concrete ball", which was commented not only on the volume, but also on the institutional relationships that brought the project to the table without guarantees and broad public consultations.
However, the challenge for KISH became clearer when the calls for investors for the National Library failed one after another, signaling as a problem the fact that the development of ready-made projects, or even the condition to return about 45% of the construction area to the Corporation, did not arouse interest.
In this context, there was a withdrawal from the investment for VOID Tower (Andrea Caputo, former ATSH). KISH continued to negotiate with the second company that had shown interest, while until December there was no public announcement of contracts with any of the investors who won the announced calls.
"KISH Model" also in the development of the Zyber Hallulli orphanage
The second half of 2025 was characterized by a series of announcements from the KISH calls, which turned the debate on the planning and use of public spaces.
Bjarke Ingels won the competition for "Petrelë"Faith Park"on the ancient area of Përsqop, a project that promised cultural and tourist development, but which, due to the intensity of construction, raised serious concerns regarding the preservation of the area's heritage and identity.
The model for developing public properties through partnerships with the private sector was pushed forward by the government with the idea that there are not enough funds and that spending on other items is also being saved.
But the calls of KISH showed that this approach lost its logic. The government showed that it did not have the money, or rather the will to invest, for administrative offices, new spaces for social institutions or cultural heritage sites.
The first case was that of the orphanage. Zyber HallulliThe corporation's call indicated a gentrifying intent to relocate the orphanage to an area of former German villas, to make way for the construction of a tower block. This was further compounded when the following were elected: 5 finalists for the project and investment.
The following case was that of Palace of Congresses, an object of particular architectural importance, but which the government does not consider worth restoring completely without losing public spaces. On the contrary, in the call of the KISH, it was implied that interested private individuals would be given the opportunity to build a building up to 20 stories high next to the Palace of Congresses.
Annual balance sheet with question marks
This is the second year of concrete work of the Corporation, following the reformatting and takeover of public properties by the government.
In the period 2024-25, KISH competitions have awarded at least 1.4 million euros to the finalist groups of participating architects.
But in a response to Citizens, the Corporation claims that “all funds […] will be borne by the selected private partner [at the end of the process] and are not a cost to the Corporation”.
At the end of 2025, the panorama emerging from KISH is not so much related to the projects being launched for development, but rather to the political model being consolidated: Public property is seen as an asset to be used. "re-energized" through private entities, often without full competition, without cost-benefit analysis, and without transparency over decision-making and the risk taken by the state.
Many calls remained in the idea phase and were forgotten or moved to the "Closed Calls" section, while concrete contracts were missing, a signal that the model did not seem to convince investors, but neither did citizens who remained without a response.
If this approach continues, the risk is not simply architectural or urbanistic for the alienation of various areas of Albania's main cities.
But it is about a silent transformation of public interest in relation to private ones, where the state seems to be turning into a kind of real estate agent, losing the role of guarantor and becoming an intermediary for projects that increasingly affect the common space, without a clear vision of who really wins in the end.
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.
