Himara municipality gives 2 hectares of land to strategic project in 'extraordinary collection'

Just eight days after the elections for the new mayor, the municipal council of Himara gathered in an extraordinary meeting on August 12 to pave the way for the transfer of over 21 thousand meters of pasture to Gjileka for the strategic project "White Roads Hotel" under administration of Florenc Gjikuria.

The decision of the Municipal Council, proposed by the acting mayor, Arqilea Bollano, transfers the surface from the ownership of the municipality to the ownership of the Real Estate Fund for the Support of Strategic Investments, FPPMIS, which then rents it for a symbolic rent of 1 euro to declared strategic investor.

The video of the meeting, posted on the Facebook page of the Municipal Council, shows that the 14 participants in the meeting voted without much debate, while the members of the opposition in this council were not present.

Afrovita Dhimojani, chairman of the Democratic Party in Himare and leader of the group of opposition advisers, claimed in a telephone conversation with BIRN that the extraordinary meeting was held in violation of the law.

Dhimojani said that the transfer of the property had not been on the agenda and that she did not understand how it was involved.

"This draft decision also came in July and I objected to the passage to the agenda, as there was not enough information," said Dhimojani. She said that there is uncertainty as to whether or not the land has a judicial conflict and added that she was not aware that public hearings had been held for it.

Asked about the objections to this transfer, businessman Florenc Gjikuria who manages "White Roads Hotel" considered the decision a routine procedure.

He said that the objections and boycott from the opposition were due to the tense post-election situation. Gjikuria claimed that public hearings were held for this transfer of ownership.

"Most of the surface that the project uses is private," said Gjikuria.

However, the documents attached to the decision of the Municipal Council show that the area of ??the public property is six times larger than the investor's private property of 3297 meters.

Addition 2 acres

The "White Roads Hotel" project was approved as a strategic investment in 2022, benefiting as a support measure also 9,100 square meters of state land with a rent of 1 euro, since this property was removed earlier from the grazing fund of the area.

But a year later, "White Roads Hotel" asked the Strategic Investments Committee, KIS, for an additional area of ??21,900 meters of state land, justifying this with a contract with the international brand Hyatt International LLC.

In this decision, KIS also approved the additional area and justified that it was given "to improve the spaces and functionality of this project, in accordance with the best standards of the brand".

The decision states that the project aimed at a multidimensional tourist resort.

"The project envisages the construction of a hotel with 190 rooms, units for business & events, greenhouses with flowers, sports facilities, areas for children, SPA, beach bar, casino and other service units", says the KIS decision. According to the decision, an investment of more than 21 million euros is foreseen there.

After this decision and the extension granted, a number of institutions were set in motion to realize the transfer of the additional land to the investor.

The realization of the Himarë Municipality, together with the decision for the transfer of the additional surface of over 2 hectares, details a series of documents exchanged between the institutions since the beginning of 2024, including the Cadastre, the Albanian Investment Development Agency (AIDA), the Ministry of Economy, Culture and Innovation and the Ministry of Environment and Tourism.

However, the democratic councilor Afrovita Dhimojani says that despite this commitment, when this draft decision was presented to the council in July, she saw that there was a lack of information.

Dhimojani said that there was uncertainty about the surface, so he refused to go to the session to request information from the State Cadastre Agency in Vlora to verify whether there were other claims on the property and whether or not there were court proceedings.

Dhimojani said that this was one of the biggest problems of Himara and that the municipality should not make the transition without clarifying this part, as it was a reason for conflicts.

The majority members of the City Council are also aware of ownership problems. During the discussions at the meeting, a councilor raises questions about whether or not there were legal conflicts over the property and whether there were citizens claiming it.

"Is there an overlap?", one of the discussants is heard asking.

But the discussions here were cut short. One of the councilors of the majority, sitting at the end of the table where the meeting was held, insists several times that the draft decision be put to a vote. "Dhimo, we are not a court. Pass it", says one of the council members who has his back to the camera, after making several gestures of raising his hand as a sign of approval and hurry.

Dhimojani told BIRN that the meeting of the Municipal Council on this issue was illegal, as it did not follow the procedure established for extraordinary meetings. Also, according to her, the transfer of ownership was not foreseen in the agenda.

"I am a member of the presidency and I saw the agenda, there were two items: Changes in the budget and miscellaneous", she says. The chairman of the DP for Himara explained that at various points, concerns from the residents are usually introduced, but the draft decision approved by the majority was proposed by the mayor. She said they would be informed of the decision at the next council meeting.

So-called strategic investors are among the biggest beneficiaries of public property in the country. Decisions approved by the Strategic Investment Committee, headed by Prime Minister Edi Rama, have offered hundreds of hectares of public land to 'strategic investors' through 1 euro lease contracts, ancillary infrastructure; such as supply and adaptation of the electrical network, drinking water supply and other benefits.

They also receive a number of tax breaks based on a law that was passed as a temporary legal measure in 2015, the deadlines of which have been postponed from time to time. According to economic experts, the law has favored a group of oligarchs and violated private property, inciting social conflicts./ reporter.al