Seven families from an earthquake-damaged building in Lezha have been homeless for five years. Building 71 on ‘Luigj Gurakuqi’ street collapsed three years ago but remains unreconstructed. The Municipality of Lezha is still waiting for government funding, while the homeless families continue to receive rent assistance.
Esmeralda Topi
Lezha was one of the hardest-hit areas by the devastating earthquake on November 26, 2019. Hundreds of families in the region were left homeless, including residents of a three-story building in the city center. The damage to Building 71 in the ‘Besëlidhja’ neighborhood (also known as the BKT Building) left seven families without a home nearly five years ago.
At the time, Mayor Pjerin Ndreu promised to rebuild the building.
Fact
This marks the fourth year that Faktoje has investigated the ‘fate’ of Building 71 on ‘Luigj Gurakuqi’ street in Lezha. The building collapsed three years ago, but reconstruction has still not started.
Lezha, 15 October 2024
The homeless families continue to receive rental bonuses. However, nearly five years after the tragic earthquake, the Municipality is still unable to provide a timeline for the commencement of reconstruction work, primarily due to a lack of funding.
‘The Municipality of Lezha has requested funding to construct this facility to ensure housing for residents affected by the earthquake, and we are currently awaiting that funding,’ states the Municipality of Lezhë.
Alfrida Marku, a member of the Democratic Party in the Lezhë Municipal Council, highlights that there are a total of 53 families left homeless after the earthquake.
‘For these 53 families in Lezhë, there is still no solution for rebuilding their homes. Despite their challenging situation, the Municipality of Lezha has inexplicably suspended the 2 Billion Lekë fund allocated for reconstruction during 2023,’ Marku asserts.
In total, ‘over 20 Billion Lekë have been allocated by the Municipality of Lezha thus far for the reconstruction process. However, against all reasonable management expectations, these funds have not been enough to resolve the issues faced by the families impacted by the earthquake,’ she concludes.
What happened?
The reconstruction of Building 71 in Lezhë was initiated by the Firdeus Foundation through a signed agreement with the Municipality of Lezha. Unfortunately, the parties could not come to an agreement. The Municipality claims that the Foundation withdrew its financing but did not provide any explanations.
We reached out to the Firdeus Foundation and its director, Elvis Naçi, to gather more information about this situation, but we have not received a response as of the publication of this article.
Conclusion
Based on the gathered information and on-site verifications, we categorize the promise made by Lezha’s Mayor, Pjerin Ndreu, regarding the reconstruction of Building 71 in the Besëlidhja neighborhood as unfulfilled.
Faktoje, with support from the National Endowment for Democracy (NED), is monitoring 10 municipalities in the country and verifying whether the promises made by Mayors have been fulfilled.
