Space to be vacated within two months/ 'Zdrale' traders in Shkodër express their concern

2025-07-07 15:25:00, Sociale CNA

Space to be vacated within two months/ 'Zdrale' traders in

The traders of Zdrale in Shkodra have reacted by not agreeing with a notice they received from the Muslim Community to vacate their commercial spaces within two months because that market is expected to be demolished to make way for another project. Initially, the traders approached the Shkodra Municipality expressing their concerns.

Here's what traders say about this case:

"Where do they want to take us, because there are 300 shops there. The Muslim community is charitable, not acting by throwing its citizens out and leaving us without food. The municipality is trying to be aloof."

"They want to disrupt the market, build skyscrapers there and make two people rich while leaving two thousand people in financial crisis."

"When we go to the mosque, the mufti says that the rich should share their wealth with the poor, and the mufti wants to take away the bread from the poor and give it to the rich because we don't have 5 thousand euros per square meter in Paris or Barcelona, ??and we're not selling drugs there so they can give us 5 thousand euros per square meter."

Deputy Mayor of Shkodër Rudin Beka received a representation of Zdrale merchants, saying that the municipality is outside this issue because it is a private property.

"We discussed the issue of leasing and renting and a letter that has arrived regarding the investment that is to be made in that area. We will discuss and take into account the requests of the need that they have because there is a deadline that is mid-August for the merchants to leave that area, which should be emphasized that it is private property and that there is a business-business relationship between the two parties. In this specific case, the municipality will see the situation better and will understand to clarify as much as possible, both in the case of the Zdrale business that has been selling there for years and there are about 500 families, as well as to follow the legal side. In this case, the municipality is a little more out of this issue because it is a relationship between a tenant and a landlord," said Beka.

The merchants also went to the Shkodra mufti, but said they could not find any solution.

"We asked them to stay until the end of the year because we have all that merchandise inside and we have nowhere to take it. They didn't tolerate it at all, there were 3 representatives of the mufti's office."

"We discussed with the leadership of the mufti's office and they didn't give us any solution. I am a Muslim and we didn't find any solution at the mufti's office," the traders say.

Traders will continue their reactions and efforts to find a solution to this situation, fearing that they will be left out of the new project that could be built in the Zdrale area of ??Shkodra by the Mufti in cooperation with the Albanian state. /CNA