Trump's son-in-law's project for Sazani receives "strategic investment" status/ The 3 phases in which the implementation will go through

2025-01-16 07:46:00, Aktualitet CNA

Trump's son-in-law's project for Sazani receives "strategic

Almost 9 months after the project of American entrepreneur Jared Kushner, son-in-law of US President-elect Donald Trump, for the realization of a tourist project on the island of Sazan was made public, at the end of December, 21 days before Mr. Trump's return to the White House, in Albania, the Strategic Investment Committee granted him the status of strategic investor, through the company "Atlantic Incubation Partners" LLC.

The island of Sazan, with an area of ??562 hectares, has been used only as a military base. But with a decree signed in early December by President Bajram Begaj, the structure "Sazan Naval Training and Shooting Area, Vlora", which seems to coincide with the area where the project is intended to be implemented, has been removed from the Plan for the Deployment and Deployment of the Armed Forces.

According to the decision, the investment value is expected to be 1.4 billion euros. The project, which envisages “a tourist marina as well as elite accommodation structures, high-standard residences, gastronomic areas and recreational areas with services in function of them” will extend over an area of ??45 hectares. According to an interview that Mr. Kushner gave in March last year to Bloomberg, the aim was to build a luxury eco-resort of the Aman brand. He declared at the time that “the island of Sazan is one of the most unspoiled and unique coastlines that I have seen anywhere in the world”.

Mr. Kushner's company has been granted the status of "Investment/Strategic Investor Special Procedure" considering the project to be of "strategic importance for the country". But according to the decision, this status, which is granted for a period of 10 years, is "conditioned on the accomplishment of the tasks, the action plan provided for in this decision, as well as on the finalization of the cooperation agreement between the parties, validly approved by a special law in the Assembly according to the applicable legal provisions".

On the other hand, the company itself has requested the state's participation, which according to the decision "will be realized through the creation of a joint legal entity composed of the Albanian Investment Corporation (AIC), Albanian Seaports Development Company sh.a (ASDC), in the capacity of the state party, and the investment entity Atlantic Incubation Partners LLC, a company under American law". The ASDC company was created two years ago, as a representative of the Albanian State, in another project in the Durrës area, where investment by entrepreneur Mohamed El Alabbar is envisaged.

The status of strategic investor provides for a series of favorable measures, from the priority completion of procedures, to the support that the authorities provide regarding the permits, licenses and authorizations necessary for the implementation of the project, or the provision of the area where the investment will be made and interventions to make it suitable for the implementation of the anticipated constructions.

There is no deadline for when the project, planned in three phases, is expected to be completed. For now, Mr. Kushner's company will have to submit a series of documents listed in the decision, "within 60 working days from the notification of this decision by the Technical Secretariat."

In March of last year, when he made public his idea for the Sazan project, Mr. Kushner explained that it had been born out of research with his friends Richard Grenell, who served as the US ambassador to Germany during the Trump administration, and Asher Abehsera, his business partner, and how he was drawn to one of the fastest-growing tourist areas in the world.

Mr. Kushner also spoke about a second project in Albania, in the Zvërnec area, near Vlora, planning the construction of several resorts with approximately 10,000 hotel rooms and villas. However, there is no information on whether this has progressed further.

Albanian authorities welcomed Mr. Kushner's intention to invest in Albania at the time. Prime Minister Rama spoke at the time of a "fantastic offer" which, according to him, would turn the island of Sazan into "a jewel in the golden crown of tourism in the Mediterranean."

President-elect Trump's son-in-law also plans to develop a project in Belgrade, transforming three abandoned blocks in the heart of the Serbian capital into a luxury hotel with commercial space and more than 1,500 residences. The historic area has been empty since the April 1999 NATO bombing of the former government's Ministry of Defense building.

Mr. Kushner served as a senior White House adviser. After leaving government service, he founded Affinity Partners, which has $3.1 billion in assets, according to Bloomberg. The company has been backed by investors from Middle Eastern countries, including about $2 billion from Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund./VOA