REPUBLISHED

The project that puts an end to the green propaganda about Farka

Erblin Vukaj · Originally published: 29 July 2025

While it was being promoted as Tirana’s second large park, Lake Farka was transformed into an area of exclusive villas and towers. Over the past decade, the green hills around the lake became vast construction sites.

The latest project, “Albora’s Lake”, envisages no fewer than 17 towers and dozens of private residences and villas, in what appears to put an end, once and for all, to the concept of public space in Farka’s large park.

A mass of buildings by the lake

The “Albora’s Lake” project was presented at the controversial “Bread & Heart” architecture festival held in June.

Read the editorial: “Bread, heart and concrete”.

It was designed by Groupwork, the studio of British architect Amin Taha, who also attended the festival as a guest.

“Albora’s lake” envisages an “alarming” construction complex covering around 30–35 hectares of land northeast of Lake Farka.

According to the models examined by Citizens.al, it is planned to include at least five rows of around 70 villas, 40 apartment buildings of five to ten storeys, a facility with a shopping centre, gallery and Olympic-size pool, a park and, a little further away, a mass of 17 towers, each 30 storeys high.

The model’s explanatory label stated that permits for this concept had been obtained in 2024–2025 and that work had begun, with completion scheduled for 2027–30.

At present, the only public document referring to this project is an agenda for a meeting of the National Territorial and Water Council (KKTU). For its 28 January 2025 meeting, the KKTU briefly states that approval of a development permit is envisaged.

It is unclear whether construction of this project has actually begun. Businessman Samir Mane’s Balfin group is also building in the same area.

Since 2023, Mane’s company has been developing the “Rolling Hills Liqeni” project, with direct access to and from the eastern side of the “Great Ring Road”.

The sales brochure (pp. 14–15) indicates that the second phase of Balfin’s villas and residential complexes has been planned for the area where “Albora’s Lake” is thought to extend.

Who is the developer?

The “Albora’s Lake” project was commissioned by “Lion Construction shpk”, owned by entrepreneurs Erion Gina and Bardhjus Bushaj, who have a substantial construction portfolio in Tirana and on the coast and maintain connections and contacts with other entrepreneurs, including Aleksandër Frangaj and Florenc Gjikuria.

“Lion Construction” is known for its project at the former “Lion Park” restaurant at the northeastern entrance to Tirana’s Artificial Lake, which after 2019 was transformed into the 14-storey “Lion Residence” tower.

In May 2022, Gina and Bushaj bought “Urbalb Construction” from Samir Mane for around 250 thousand euros. In December that year, the company obtained a construction permit to transform the former “Party School” in Laprakë into a 34-storey tower.

The project, designed by Italian “starchitect” Giacomo Garziano (GG-Loop), is now called “Lion Residence II”. In 2025, the permit was revised to add an underground floor.

Gina and Bushaj also own other companies, including “Top Realty Albania”, “Golden Key”, “Seaside Construction” and “EBG Group”, through which they have developed other construction projects, such as “Drymades Village, known as Santorini” (2021), “Village Square” (2023), and “Park Houses Mjull-Bathore”.

Farka: from a public park to a residential park

Lake Farka lies around 10 km from central Tirana and has been promoted over the past 10 years as the city’s “second park”. But it has had only 1.1 hectares of public space, according to the Parks and Recreation Agency.

Most of the park’s area is the lake itself, the water surface, covering around 75 hectares.

By comparison, the Artificial Lake Park extends over around 157 hectares of land and has a lake covering around 45 hectares.

This shortage of land has led Farka to be promoted mainly for water-based recreation, such as fishing, rowing and swimming.

But over the past 10 years, municipal investment has been limited to a promenade, trees and bicycle paths, rather than expanding the park.

Meanwhile, construction occupied the surrounding hills, completely undercutting the green propaganda of tree planting.

Google’s satellite imagery shows that in 2015 only 3% of the land around the lake was urbanised; today, according to the areas calculated below, buildings occupy around 23% of the hills. If “Albora’s Lake” adds 30 hectares within the same area, without overlapping the plots already counted, this share would reach around 38%.

Within an area of around 195 hectares along the lake, 10 years ago there were about 6 hectares of plots with buildings. In other words, 97% of Farka’s hills were green.

Today, satellite images show a construction free-for-all. Around 39 hectares of building plots have been added to the hills, occupying 20% of that same original area.

If we accept that the plot required for the “Albora’s Lake” project is around 30 hectares and is added within the same 195-hectare area, without overlapping the plots already counted, the share of urbanised hills would reach around 38%, extinguishing the vision of a public park forever.

The promised Farka park was, in fact, private property which Tirana Municipality neither bought nor otherwise acquired for public use.

The municipality’s investments in promenades, decorative features and tree planting around the lake now look like a carefully considered plan to serve private complexes rather than Tirana’s citizens.

Meanwhile, it remains unclear how infrastructure and services could be provided for this large residential influx into an area considered “recreational”.

* This article was reviewed and corrected on 8 October 2026.