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"Reuters": Jared Kushner's planned resort in Albania raises fear and hope in the coastal city

2024-04-05 08:54:00, Aktualitet CNA

"Reuters": Jared Kushner's planned resort in Albania raises fear

Through binoculars, ornithologist Jon Vorpsi spies flamingos and pelicans stopping along their migration routes in a protected piece of land on the southern coast of Albania.

Vorpsi fears the look could soon end if Donald Trump's son-in-law, Jared Kushner, goes ahead with plans to build a tourist resort in the area near the city of Vlora, loved by locals for its pine forests, olive trees and hiking trails.

Kushner announced the plans last month, part of a wider investment by his Affinity Partners in the Balkans, which includes another project on a nearby island in Albania and a third in Belgrade at the former army headquarters.

The projects can boost local economies by attracting visitors, but they have faced opposition from locals who fear they will damage the environment or, in Belgrade's case, threaten culturally important sites.

Kushner presented the plans weeks after Albania's parliament amended a law allowing the government to grant building permits in protected areas for hotels or resorts of five stars or more. The government did not say at the time how much Affinity planned to invest.

"It is a great sadness to know that this area will no longer serve future generations," said Vorpsi, who works for the local environmental NGO PPNEA.

"Reuters": Jared Kushner's planned resort in Albania raises fear

"In 10 years this place will be a gray place with concrete", he added while looking for new species of birds through his binoculars near the village of Zvërnec.

Kushner and Affinity Partners did not respond to Reuters requests for comment.

Since the fall of communism in 1990, Albania has struggled with economic and political instability and widespread emigration, especially among young people.

But its alpine lakes and unspoiled coastline have attracted a growing number of tourists looking for a quieter, cheaper alternative to Greece and Croatia. Albania welcomed more than 10 million tourists last year, 35% higher than in 2022.

"Trump Villas"

Vlora Mayor Ermal Dredha hailed Kushner's project, which includes a yacht dock, swimming pools and exclusive villas, saying he planned to turn the city into a "high-end tourist destination" and vowed not to harm the environment.

"Without investment, how will we attract all these people who come here and choose Vlora?" said Dredha to "Reuters".

Kushner's plans, which locals call "Trump villas," are already making waves.

Real estate agent, Flori Brahimaj, said that prices for apartments with a possible view over the planned plot of the project have already increased between 100-200 euros per square meter.

In Serbia, Affinity plans to finance a luxury project in central Belgrade that will include a hotel, apartments, shops and office space on the site that housed the headquarters of the Yugoslav People's Army (JNA) until 1999 when NATO bombed it as part of an air campaign against Serbian atrocities in Kosovo.

More than 26,000 people have signed an online petition to protect the two identical buildings that make up a protected cultural site./ Monitor.al