Plans by relatives of U.S. President Donald Trump to build a luxury resort in the scenic coastal area of Zvërnec have sidelined local residents and their property claims, while intersecting with a long-running court battle involving controversial real estate businessman Artur Shehu.
By Vladimir Karaj
Tirana Times, 02 February 2026 – During two overcast days on Jan. 21 and 22, the picturesque village of Zvërnec, on the edge of the Narta Lagoon near the southern city of Vlora, briefly became Ivanka Trump’s territory.
The village was sealed off by heavy police presence as Trump, the daughter of the U.S. president, was accompanied by a large group of architects and business figures, moving through the area in a convoy of high-end vehicles.
During her stay, Ivanka Trump twice visited the centuries-old St. Mary’s Monastery on Zvërnec Island, where she took photographs and lit candles. She also met several times with Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama and was filmed dining with him.
The main stop, however, was the white-sand beach of Porta Nova, where the group set up tents and spent most of their time.
Local residents, meanwhile, followed the events on television.
“No one was invited,” said Kostaq Konomi, the headman of Zvërnec village. “They stayed there for two or three days, but no one was allowed to come close.”
The small Zvërnec community has for years lived under the strain of losing its land due to a protracted legal dispute with Artur Shehu, a controversial real estate businessman from Vlora who has lived in Florida for the past two decades.
Plans by Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, and his wife Ivanka Trump to build a luxury resort in Zvërnec have brought that risk closer.
Residents, who say they own the land earmarked for the project, complain they are being excluded from information and decision-making.
“Why all this silence here? You don’t know what’s happening. It raises a lot of doubts,” Konomi said, also criticizing television coverage that failed to mention the local families whose lives have long been tied to the land.
Asked by BIRN about the Kushner–Trump project in Zvërnec, Prime Minister Rama said through a spokesperson that the government was not involved.
“The area in question is private property and the government is not a party to any agreement,” the statement said. “The project will be treated like all other projects that follow the institutional process up to the granting of permits.”
Tourism Minister Blendi Gonxhe also said his ministry was not involved in Kushner’s plans to build in Albania. Representatives of Kushner’s company did not respond to BIRN’s questions regarding the ownership dispute before publication.
Project on contested land
Kostaq Konomi, the village head of Zvërnec, expressed anger over the exclusion of residents and the unresolved land dispute amid plans for luxury investments in the area.
Projects by Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump in Albania include an ultra-luxury resort on Sazan Island and a second tourism complex in the Zvërnec area.
The Sazan project was made official at the end of 2024, when, shortly before Donald Trump was inaugurated for a second term as U.S. president, the government granted Kushner strategic investor status. However, attention appears to have shifted to Zvërnec, even though the project has not yet passed through the formal approval process.
According to publicly presented plans, the resort would stretch from Dajlan Beach toward Porta Nova, around a lagoon and a dense forest bordering the protected Narta Lagoon.
Days before Ivanka Trump’s visit to Vlora, Zvërnec residents were alarmed by a notice from the Vlora cadastral office.
Documents obtained by BIRN show that Artur Shehu had filed a new request seeking a duplicate ownership certificate for 51,944 square meters of forest land—property that residents say lies within the footprint of the planned project and is subject to ongoing litigation. In his request, Shehu claimed the original document had been lost.
For Konomi, the move was not a routine administrative step but another signal that the long-standing dispute was entering a new phase due to interest in luxury investments.
Konomi and another resident petitioned the State Cadastre Agency to reject Shehu’s request, citing the ongoing court case.
“The property claimed by citizen Artur Shehu belongs to the residents of Zvërnec village, who acquired it under Law No. 7501 of July 19, 1991, ‘On Land,’” their submission said.
The land dispute in Zvërnec, covering pastures, olive groves, farmland and undeveloped coastal areas, illustrates the long-standing uncertainty surrounding property rights in Albania.
Residents obtained the land under Law 7501 and hold land-use certificates, but Konomi said most divisions followed traditional boundaries.
“I took my father’s olive trees,” he said, standing in his yard.
In 2012, residents learned that the same land had also been recognized as belonging to heirs of the Shehu family, including Artur Shehu. Alarmed, villagers filed suit. Fourteen years later, the case remains unresolved, having been sent back for retrial several times.
The civil ownership dispute is not the only one. Prosecutors in Vlora and Tirana have opened criminal investigations involving a former legal representative of Shehu, cases that are still pending. According to a Supreme Court ruling, one document used by the Shehu family was proven to be forged.
For residents, Trump’s visit and the presence of architects would not be troubling if their ownership rights were recognized.
“Let them come and invest; it will create jobs for young people,” said one man in his 60s, insisting that any investment should not involve land grabbing.
Konomi said he is baffled that families who have lived there for centuries are ignored.
“They talk about Zvërnec again and again, but no one mentions that people live here, that there’s a property dispute going on since 2006,” he said.
Environmental concerns
Beyond ownership disputes, the Zvërnec project has drawn criticism from environmental activists concerned about its impact on protected areas and the Narta Lagoon, one of Europe’s most important habitats for wild birds.
Taulant Bino, head of the environmental organization AOS, said the project risks damaging the most fragile part of the Pishë Poro–Nartë coastline and the Vjosa River delta.
“Zvërnec is one of the most sensitive coastal areas in the country, fragile geology, lagoons, dunes, cliffs and untouched beaches,” AOS said in a statement.
Bino questioned whether recent amendments to Albania’s protected areas law were intended to allow such resorts, which would have been impossible under previous legislation.
“This decision shows why the law on protected areas was changed, to open the door to any kind of investment in any protected territory, especially in protected landscape areas like Pishë Poro–Nartë,” he said.
Bino warned the project could set a precedent leading to the urbanization of the entire coastline.
“What’s happening in Zvërnec will be replicated elsewhere. With the same rationale, it will happen in other protected areas and along Albania’s entire coast,” he said.
Asked by BIRN about environmental concerns, Prime Minister Rama said through a spokesperson that he viewed them as expressions of free opinion.
“The prime minister values every objection as an expression of each individual’s freedom to hold their own opinion,” the statement said.
Courtesy of BIRN Albania
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