By Ilda Hoxha
Despite promises made, the residents of Kombinat, who were left homeless by the 2019 earthquake, have not been able to enter their new homes. In early April, Veliaj assured the start of distributing ‘keys in hand.’ However, the Municipality of Tirana officially stated that only 3 out of 16 new apartments in Kombinat have been completed, and even these are still undergoing the certification process. Additionally, infrastructure around the buildings is still lacking. Are the residents’ suspicions being confirmed that only the 2025 election campaign will provide them with new homes?
During an interview on the ‘Top Story‘ program in early April, Mayor Erion Veliaj reiterated plans for the reconstruction process in the Kombinat area, promising to start the distribution of apartments to residents.
‘Things are looking up… Kombinat will be distributed next week, the lottery will start,’ – Veliaj announced on April 8th of this year.
Following Veliaj’s commitment, we reached out to the Municipality of Tirana for information. Officially, this institution explains that construction is underway for 16 buildings, but currently, work has been completed for only 3 of them, and even these are not yet inhabitable.
‘As part of the reconstruction process, the Municipality of Tirana has planned to construct 16 new buildings in the new development area in Kombinat. This area was declared based on Council of Ministers Decision no. 80, dated January 31, 2020, titled ‘Declaration of the new development area in Administrative Unit No. 6, Kombinat, Municipality of Tirana,’ and the Detailed Urban Plan, approved by Decision no. 2280/1, dated March 30, 2022, titled ‘Approval of the Local Mandatory Plan’.’
In this newly developed area, construction work has been completed for 3 buildings, with the certification process currently ongoing. Construction is in progress for 13 additional buildings. However, the public lottery process for the distribution of apartments to residents has not yet commenced’, stated the Municipality of Tirana in its response dated April 29th.
To closely monitor the progress of the reconstruction process, we conducted a field verification in the first week of May. Our verification revealed that no residents had moved into the new apartments, and the lack of road infrastructure made accessing the area difficult.
Kombinat, May 3rd, 2024
Residents in Kombinat informed Faktoje that they are unaware of when they can receive the keys to their new apartments, but they express hope for a prompt resolution. They highlighted concerns that some residents have been disqualified from the rent bonus without any specific reasons.
‘All we want is to move into our homes, nothing more. We’ve been waiting for 5 years. People are losing their rent bonus, and we’re in the dark about what’s going on,’ remarked a resident of Kombinat.
Kombinat, May 3rd, 2024
In a series of articles, Faktoje has extensively covered the breach of deadlines in completing the reconstruction process in the Kombinat area.
Earlier, residents of Kombinat shared with Faktoje their concerns that the wait could extend until 2025, and they expressed hopes of finally having a roof over their heads only around the time of elections for campaigning purposes.
At present, while some of the new buildings may appear completed from the outside, they remain uninhabitable due to ongoing internal works. Furthermore, essential infrastructure such as roads and sewage systems are still lacking in the area.
