VOA: Albania becomes a completely digital Cadastre, it is hoped that corruption will be curbed

2023-06-30 22:15:01, Aktualitet CNA

VOA: Albania becomes a completely digital Cadastre, it is hoped that corruption

The authorities in Albania have prepared fully digital mortgage services through the e-Albania platform and announced the closure of all counters for citizens from Monday.

Prime Minister Edi Rama apologized on behalf of the Socialist Party for the delays, corruption and abuses that the citizens have suffered during the meetings with the cadastre employees.

He said in a public speech that he felt shame and regret for the serious situation where the mortgages were located, even though it is in the tenth year and the third mandate of the socialist government.

The government announced today in Tirana the closure of all cadastre counters and any physical contact between citizens and employees of Albania's mortgage services.

From Monday onwards, any service of this type can only be offered through the e-Albania platform, in an effort to put an end, after a deep technological reformation, to numerous irregularities over three decades, as well as to the corruption of this administration. .

The authorities regretted the dire condition and poor services so far in relation to the properties, which have caused deep problems in society and the economy.

Prime Minister Edi Rama said that the socialist government did not succeed until now, despite the long time available, to change the inherited situation, because every new effort was hindered by corrupt interventions and the influences of the rulers at different levels.

He said that until today he felt ashamed about the cadastre and asked for forgiveness.

"Today is the day to ask for a very big apology on behalf of the Socialist Party to all those Albanians who have gone through the chain of torture in the cadastre. This apology is the apology of the president of a guilty party. Of course, it is not the whole party, but it is the leadership of the party, in the first place, that has set the ugliest example for everyone else," said Mr. Rama.

In front of an audience full of deputies, ministers and mayors, at first the new head of the State Cadastre Agency and then Prime Minister Rama called this institution a nest of abuses with properties, legalizations, documents, where corruption, nepotism and political and family influences won in the face of honest service efforts.

Digital technology and online services, which start to be used from Monday, are hoped to heal one of the most serious wounds of the Albanian transition; relations of Albanian citizens with their properties.

Experts claim that falsifications, disappearances and substitutions of documents, overlapping of maps and seizure of property have often occurred, which have led to thousands of endless lawsuits, crimes and deep social conflicts.

The improvement of mortgages was one of the main promises of the Socialist Party in the 2013 elections and it has already received the third governing mandate and the overwhelming majority of the local government.

Western institutions and domestic and foreign business circles have constantly requested increased security in this sector to make it possible to increase foreign investments and curb judicial conflicts on property issues./ VOA