Cultural Heritage Day/ Ina Zhupa: PD is committed to banning concessions

2024-09-29 17:55:00, Aktualitet CNA

The chairman of the committee responsible for culture, deputy Ina Zhupa, reacted today on the national day of cultural heritage. She brought to attention one of her battles against the concession of Butrint and presented the commitment of the Democratic Party to stop concessions on cultural heritage.

Zhupa said that with the DP government "UNESCO will be a guiding compass and the protection and inscription of national assets in UNESCO will be a serious commitment". She brings figures and data from the KLSH report on how the government has failed to protect cultural heritage and is doing a dangerous experiment by treating it as a commercial commodity.

"Today, the national day of cultural heritage, the Democratic Party is committed to the prohibition of concessions on cultural heritage.

The union of culture and economy, a unique Albanian experiment with the function of giving concessions, through foundations of cultural heritage, will end as soon as the PD is responsible for governance.

The first concession model was Butrint, the battle for which still continues with the hope that it will be stopped as soon as possible. UNESCO opposes it and their reports disappear from the Albanian institutions.

In Albania, according to KLSH, there are 122 completely destroyed monuments, 884 monuments in need of restoration, 745 in need of continuous maintenance, 98 alienated objects and 15 objects without a card.

Preparations for concession plans include the Palace of Brigades, the Amphitheater of Durrës, the Castle of Gjirokastra and many others that are being worked on for a management plan with foundations.

The Democratic Party in its program for cultural heritage has as a fundamental point the primary role of the state and the prohibition of concessions, allowing only donations and coordinating with the private sector as help and not as the recipient of heritage and its treatment as a commercial commodity. For us, UNESCO will be a guiding compass and the protection and inscription of national assets in UNESCO will be a serious commitment.

Cultural heritage is the essence of our identity, history and pride as Albanians, so it is our duty to protect it, elevate it and leave it to future generations", Zhupa declares./ CNA