Another blatant construction scandal and flagrant abuse of the law is taking shape in one of the densest and most sensitive areas of the capital. Between three existing apartment buildings and next to the “Emin Duraku” school, a permit has been granted to build a 16-story tower. This not only contradicts every urban planning logic and safety norm but also directly endangers the lives of hundreds of residents and the children who attend the school daily.
On Saturday morning, March 29, 2025, the construction company arrived at the site between the apartment buildings and near the school to officially begin work. The residents’ reaction was immediate: protest, calls for help, phone calls to the police and the Territorial Protection Inspectorate. But the institutional response was minimal – a formal intervention without real power to stop the project.
The residents are determined not to back down. They have filed a lawsuit to suspend the works and on Monday are expected to report to SPAK the Deputy Prime Minister Belinda Balluku, who signed the permit in violation of every technical, legal, and ethical criterion.
From the Former Minister of Culture, to the “Uncle” and the Construction Company
Behind this building, which threatens to explode in the heart of a densely populated area, are names not unknown to the public: Elva Margariti, former Minister of Culture, and Agron Lufi, professor of architecture, designer, and also Margariti’s uncle. Both closely connected to the project and clear beneficiaries of the construction in question.
But the names do not stop there. In the background stand controversial figures of the Albanian transition and other “powerful” individuals with direct influence in the chain of state decision-making.
Official documents show that the owners of the company that will build the tower are Gentian Paruca and Fation Alliu. Directly connected with Lufi and Margariti, the duo seems to have found the golden moment to develop the land that has been impossible to build on for 20 years.
This land has always been a firm “no” from previous institutions. Why? Because it is located among three apartment buildings, near a school, in one of the busiest neighborhoods in the city. No urban plan has ever envisaged such a construction. But individuals linked to the Government turned the many-year “no” suddenly into a “yes”.
This is not a simple construction case. It is a lesson for all Albanians on how clientelism and family-political ties dismantle the state and turn it into a machine that serves personal interest above all else.
“Strategic Interest” for Whom?
In defense of this project, a new tool for corrupt favoritism has been used: the law on strategic constructions. A fabricated instrument that gives the government the right to disregard any legal distance and any urban regulation for projects labeled as “of strategic interest”.
And the question raised is clear: for whom is this 16-story tower strategic? For the residents? For the children risking their lives in class? Or for the former minister, professor Lufi, and the construction company Gentian Parruca and Fation Alliu? Both established a construction company in July 2023. In May 2024, the KKRT “gifts” them a building permit for 16 floors on a plot surrounded by three apartment buildings and a school. A project more strategic than this cannot be made.
Two of the apartment buildings near the construction site date back to 1938, with different structures and unprotected against tremors and massive excavations. According to engineers, any foundation digging for a building of this size is a direct threat of collapse. The “Emin Duraku” school is also in the danger trajectory. The children study just a few meters away from the excavators preparing to deepen concrete foundations for 16 floors.
This is no longer mere insensitivity. This is criminal irresponsibility.
How the School Was “Moved” to Clear the Way for the Tower
Another shocking element is how this intervention was legalized. Sources inside the municipality reveal that the original project of the “Emin Duraku” school was deliberately modified to give the tower more space. An artificial displacement, a revision of the school’s construction plan, was used to “free” the contested plot.
A decision that could not happen without the knowledge of the top officials of the municipality, the ministry, and the bodies that sign every millimeter in the center of Tirana.
Residents Do Not Give Up
The residents of the area, involved in this unjust battle, have no intention of remaining silent. They have a demand for the officials who allowed this project:
“You came, signed, profited. Now come and live here. Enjoy from your balcony the noise, dust, and shadow of the 16 floors rising over our children’s heads.”
For Agron Lufi, a bitter irony from the community: “He should give a lecture to architecture students titled: How to destroy an urban space in the name of personal profit.”
A Crime Demanding Punishment, Not Attention
This story is no longer an urbanistic issue. It is no longer a legal debate. It is a crime with major social, moral, and human consequences.
Crime against the law.
Crime against children.
Crime against the community.
Crime against the urban future of this city.
SPAK must act. The Prosecutor’s Office must investigate. Silence is complicity.
*This article was not written by “Shteg” journalists, but some of the facts denounced by the residents of the apartment buildings near the “Emin Duraku” school, where the new building will be constructed, have been verified by the editorial staff.
RRKOKSH (Rrjeti për Raportimin e Krimit të Organizuar dhe Korrupsionit në Shqipëri), organizata juaj kryesore mediatike investigative e angazhuar për të hedhur dritë mbi krimin e organizuar dhe korrupsionin në të gjithë Shqipërinë. Nëpërmjet platformës sonë online në shteg.org, ne ofrojmë një gazetari të plotë dhe me ndikim që synon jo vetëm të informojë, por edhe të nxisë ndryshimet shoqërore.