Albania: "Territory, state of emergency" 



Even though, he isn’t yet official Prime Minister, Edi Rama has started work, with special focus on its governing agenda, issues of urban development and the economy.

The two-day conference "Albania, the next generation", on its first day dealt with urban issues. Since the beginning of his speech, the elected prime minister, Edi Rama said that the country is suffering from the lack of a development model, which the cause of the alarming situation in our country.

This situation, - said Rama, - is the product of the development model followed during these years.

"We are in a national emergency and we are determined to treat the situation as emergency and to face it with all means of emergency. We can no longer sit and wait that the inertia of destruction of the great potential this country has, to be socially, territorially, and economically developed, be undone before our eyes”, said Rama.

In order for this situation to change, by not remaining a mere personal and his government ambition, Rama filed the application of another governance territorial model.

"We will also change the pattern of territorial governance. For this reason, we will include in the territory governance capacities offered by us from abroad. We want to change our country government from a passive development follower into a development leader. We should melt the boundaries between sectors, borders between administrations and we should create an integrated approach”, Rama said.

Architects and urban planners, from different parts of the world, presented their findings from the field, after two days of observation, in informal areas as Paskuqan, Kamëz, former Swamp area in Durrës and the city amphitheatre. They expressed the need for a national plan, composed by consutling a broad public.

While the future Minister of Urban Development and Tourism, Englantina Gjermeni said that the international expertise will be an ongoing approach taking into account the best models in the region.

"This will be not only be in the draft process of this national plan, but certainly in the application, without forgetting the expertise of foreign donors and international organizations, that have really contributed so far and will be supportive to everyone this process, "said Gjermeni.

This big problems with destruction of our territory across the country and trying to save it from even greater degradation, for Edi Rama is not only a challenge but also a great bet. But will Rama and his government win this battle, this time on a national level, as happened locally with illegal buildings that were demolished when he was mayor?

The second day of the conference "Albania, next generation” will focus on the economic problems facing the country.