A view from Sazan Island. Photo: BIRN.
Some 41 environmental organisations sent a letter to Prime Minister Edi Rama and Environment Minister Sofjan Jaupaj on Friday calling for “the immediate suspension of any decisions advancing the project” by Jared Kushner, son-in-law of Donald Trump, to build a luxury resort on the uninhabited island of Sazan.
Following the approval of the project, Albanian media reported that Kushner’s wife, Ivanka Trump, was visiting Albania on Wednesday and Thursday.
She was seen in Vlora, near where Sazan island is located, having dinner with Rama, and in Tirana at the Prime Minister’s Office. Rama confirmed the visit, but there are no details regarding the advancement of the project.
The government granted Strategic Investor Status to the proposal in January last year.
“The project proposes interventions across 45 hectares, posing serious risks to the biodiversity and critical habitats of the area,” the organisations said in a press release.
“Sazan Island and its surrounding waters provide crucial habitats for some of the world’s most endangered marine species, including the Mediterranean monk seal (Monachus monachus), listed on the IUCN Red List and under the Convention on Migratory Species (CMS),” it added, noting it also hosts 36 other globally threatened marine species.
The project aims to transform the once isolated military outpost of Fascist Italy and Communist Albania into a luxury resort.
“The projected investment of ‘Sazan Island Touristic Resort’ of 1.4 billion euros fulfils the criteria foreseen in the legislation on strategic investments,” the government decision awarding Strategic Investor status reads.
“The projected investment fulfils the criteria on the number of jobs as requested by the legislation on strategic investments. During the development and operational parts of the investment, the employment of 1,000 people is foreseen,” the decision adds.
Kushner announced plans to invest in Albania in March 2024.
The five-square-kilometre island some 30 kilometres from Vlora, overseeing the Otranto Strait is uninhabited and has almost no fresh water. However, after World War I, Italy developed it into a military base of strategic importance for the control of the strait.
Albania took it over following Italy’s defeat in World War II and also developed it as a military base. It was used again as a military base by Italy’s Guardia di Finanza in the late-1990s, as Italy attempted to crack down on human trafficking operations from Albania to Italy.
The remains of both Italian and Albanian military fortifications have made Sazan a tourist attraction with several ships and dozens of boats offering daily trips from Vlora during summer.
But the island nominally remained a military base up to December 2024, when a presidential decision removed it from a list of national military assets.
The government decision notes that the project will occupy some 562 hectares, of which some 45 hectares will be developed.
Kushner has also proposed to develop the Zvernec area, which falls within the environmentally protected area of Narte-Zvernec.
