Adri Nurellari: With the money that was spent on the park in the courtyard of the Prime Minister's Office, they could have bought a plane for the fires

2025-08-13 07:54:00, Aktualitet CNA

Adri Nurellari: With the money that was spent on the park in the courtyard of

Political scientist Adri Nurellari spoke about the capacities that countries in the region have in protecting the country and extinguishing fires.

Nurellari has noted that the money spent to build Eden Park in the courtyard of the Prime Minister's Office could have been used to purchase a Fire Boss aircraft for extinguishing fires and protecting cultural heritage.

The political scientist emphasizes that instead of investments that protect the natural heritage, lives and wealth of citizens, projects have been chosen for fun and facade.

"This is the Air Tractor AT-802 Fire Boss in use by the Macedonian state since 2010.

It is an amphibious firefighting aircraft that combines speed, capacity, and efficiency to deal with the largest fires in forests and open spaces.

It reaches the emergency area faster than a helicopter, flying at over 350 kilometers per hour, while costing several times less than helicopters both in purchase and operation.

With a long range, the Fire Boss can cover great distances without the need for refueling (over 3 hours of flight autonomy), while the ability to retrieve up to 3,100 liters of water from lakes, rivers or the sea in less than 15 seconds makes it extremely fast in intervention.

This is the perfect tool for a small country with a limited budget like Albania. Montenegro has four. North Macedonia has three. Slovenia has four. And us? Zero. Not even one.

A Fire Boss costs around 3.5 million euros, which means that with the money that was spent on "Eden Park" in the courtyard of the Prime Minister's Office, designed by Chris Precht, we could have bought one.

With the 14 billion lek that was spent on the Pyramid's transformation, we could have bought four – as many as our neighbors.

But instead of funds to save lives and forests, a building full of cafes, bars, restaurants, insurance companies, and banks was financed – as if Tirana wasn't already drowning in private palaces and towers.

This is the difference between thinking about luxury and thinking about defending the country.

Unfortunately, Albania today has the former, not the latter. Instead of investments that protect the natural heritage, the lives and wealth of citizens, projects have been chosen for fun and facade.

"This is not just mismanagement - it is irresponsibility that costs the country and its citizens every summer," Nurellari writes./ CNA