TIRANA, Jan. 30, 2023 – Albania’s government has officially signed off on a 2 billion euro private-public partnership with a major UAE investor, Muhamed Alabbar, to redevelop the Durrës port area waterfront.
The agreement on the Durrës Yacht and Marina Project signed Monday follows almost a year of negotiations between the Albanian state and the investor, ending with the official greenlighting of the project, the largest foreign investment ever in Albania, according to officials.
The Albanian government will be a 33 percent stakeholder, according to Deputy Prime Minister Belinda Balluku, who said the project will change the quality and nature of tourism services offered not only in Albania, but the entire region.
The project envisions turning the old commercial port of Durres into a marina and the surrounding industrial area into a massive complex for waterfront apartments, hotels, restaurants, cafes and other tourist services.
Alabbar, who has come to fame for his work in Dubai, including building the world’s tallest tower, the Burj Khalifa, has said he will turn Durrës into a new Monaco. He recently completed a massive redevelopment project in Belgrade and says the region is “the New Europe” and offers great opportunities.
At the Monday singing ceremony, he said that “some things we are doing here [in Albania] are more advanced than in Dubai”.
“Thank you to the great team that has worked so hard to get to where we are today. … I have been in business for 30 years and I have never experienced such a transparent process,” Alabbar said.
Prime Minister Edi Rama has been pushing the project for months, waiving off criticism by the political opposition on the costs of moving the commercial port and giving away public land to the project as well as questions on the source of the funds that will be used to purchase the expensive real estate associated with the project.
He focused on benefits the project will bring instead, not only for tourism but also for employment.
“It will offer quality employment, many well-paid profiles for many who will no longer have any reason to see their future abroad if they want to work hard,” Rama said.
Rama reiterated that the project is transparent and this is shown, according to him, by the fact that the Albanian state will be a shareholder in this investment.
“For the first time, the Albanian state is a direct partner with 33 percent of the shares, precisely because the process has nothing to sweep under the rug,” Rama said.
The international tender for the new cargo port to be built in the Porto Romano industrial area north of Durrës will also be opened within this week. Albania will have to build a new deep water port cargo to make up for the loss of its largest commercial port to the marina project. Passenger ferry services will run from the same location they are today, however.
