REPUBLISHED

€450 million in Corporation projects “ready for permits”, without transparency

Erblin Vukaj · Originally published: 19 February 2026

According to the Albanian government, a series of projects brokered by the Albanian Investment Corporation (KISH), worth more than €450 million, is approaching the building-permit stage.

But as tower projects multiply, the documents setting out the financial agreements for the transfer of public properties remain unknown, leaving transparency and the public’s actual benefit from this transformation in the shadows.

Ready “for permits” out of nowhere

In late January, in one of the halls of the former Hotel Dajti, during the competition to select the winning design for the “New Children’s Home and Inspectorates Complex”, KISH head Elira Kokona and Prime Minister Edi Rama announced something that passed without public debate: several projects brokered by the Corporation were already “at an advanced stage” and some of them “ready to receive permits”.

The presentation screens displayed the new building projects, most of them featuring towers. Figures were also shown publicly for the first time: an investment portfolio approaching €1 billion.

But once again, an essential detail was passed over. Most of the projects will be built on public property, and the public knows little or nothing about the fate of land so coveted by the real estate sector.

“Seven construction projects are ready to receive building permits,” Kokona said before the competition.

She implied that this list also included the projects for two government residences in Vlorë and Velipojë that had been handed to private operators to be turned into hotels.

“Work continues with the completion, in the coming days, of negotiations for the two hotels […] which are also beginning the permit-application phase,” Kokona continued, seeking support from the Territorial Development Agency (AZHT) and the National Territorial Planning Agency (AKPT).

“[…the projects] are now at an advanced stage, and some of them are even ready to receive development permits and start work,” Rama said, as if to clarify that development permits are needed first and that procedures still remain to be followed.

A development permit is one of the basic documents needed to proceed with a project. It is issued by the National Council of Territory and Water (KKTU), chaired by Prime Minister Rama and organised by AZHT, which acts as its secretariat.

A development permit establishes, in principle, the conditions governing how much can be built on a plot and in what form: density, volume, number of storeys and distances from boundaries. It does not confer the right to begin construction.

The right to build comes only with a building permit, also issued by KKTU, which approves the technical and architectural design and its specific implementation within the conditions of the development permit. It is issued to developers only after the technical and legal conditions have been met and the infrastructure impact tax has been paid.

Whatever stage the projects brokered through KISH have reached, whether awaiting development or building permits, the statement of 29 January implies that they already have signed contracts and that agreement has been reached on developing the public properties.

Transparency, a mere formality

Following the statements by the Prime Minister and the head of KISH, Citizens.al formally asked the Corporation for the list of projects “at an advanced stage”, the status of negotiations with investors, the benefit the state would receive and the preliminary contracts underpinning these developments.

The reply was brief: the information can be found on KISH’s official website. At first glance, this seems an administrative response. But checking what has been published reveals something quite different.

A review of all the Corporation’s published announcements shows a recurring pattern. It publishes architectural competitions, winning studios and “3D” renderings, but not feasibility studies, the checks made on investment capacity, guarantees or financial agreements with the developer.

The negotiated preliminary contracts, the agreed terms and, above all, the value of what the state will receive from the use of public properties for private construction are missing.

In other words, the public sees the buildings to be built, but not the deals the government concludes with private developers.

What do we gain from these projects? What mechanisms protect against abuses?

KISH is neither a conventional public developer nor an investor. The Corporation acts as an economic intermediary: it identifies state properties, organises competitions for investors and negotiates their development.

To date, all the calls have been taken forward by foreign architects, but none has attracted foreign investors. A shortcoming that the government and the Corporation try to keep out of public discussion.

In practice, public properties are being turned into economic agreements with domestic developers through the percentage of floor area the state receives in relation to the value of the land.

It is precisely this element, the real price of public property, that is not published. In some calls, even the reduction of the requested share to around 40% comes without explanation.

One concrete example: in the Lift Tower call, the Corporation initially sought at least 45% of the floor area, but in the reopened call this month, it is asking for 40%.

The projects “ready for permits”

The January presentation identified 5 projects considered close to receiving permits: “Tirana Void Tower” (€79 million), the Government Complex (€37 million), “Selman Stërmasi” Stadium (€172 million), “Asllan Rusi” Sports Palace (€109 million) and the National Library (€55 million).

Their combined investment value reaches €452.5 million.

The initial winner of the “Void Tower” competition, Aiba Company, offered the state 46.1% of the floor area, but withdrew. Negotiations moved to the second bid, 45%, from Progeen. Under this call, the investor will build the Government Complex for the government.

Since September 2025, the Corporation’s website has carried no announcement of a contract signing. Yet according to the government, the project is now among those considered “ready for permits”.

This says much about the procedures: a development on public land approaches permit approval, but the agreement underpinning it is not publicly announced.

The “Asllan Rusi” Sports Palace has been handled similarly. There has been no announcement of any contract signing. The investor, Trema Tech, offered 40.5% of the floor area to be developed under this project.

The only project for which a signed contract appears to have been announced in advance is “Selman Stërmasi” Stadium. For this investment, the private developer, Albanian Investment Construction, offered 46.5% of the floor area to be developed on public properties in the area.

Yet there is no information about the date of the contract signing, the terms set in negotiations or the possible timetable for construction to begin and end.

But the most unclear and troubling case is the National Library, an important public building that KISH offered to build in partnership with a private investor.

Two open calls, offering the opportunity to build towers at the former German Villas as an incentive, were cancelled for lack of bids.

But suddenly, the Library project appears on the list of projects “awaiting permits”. KISH has announced no new competitive procedure and, consequently, no public agreement with the investor, X-One.

This is a national public institution, yet how it will be financed and the arrangement under which the state will take delivery of it remain unknown.

Six other KISH calls, with an investment value of €538 million, are described as “in progress”: Expo Albania (€50 million); Lift Tower (€64 million); the Cadastre Building (€28 million); Skënderbeu Stadium (€56 million); Flamurtari Stadium (€200 million); and Niko Dovana Stadium (€140 million).

Also described as “in progress” are Durana Tech Park, the Park of Faith and the two government residences in Vlorë and Velipojë, but no approximate investment cost is given for them.

Calls such as “New Children’s Home, Inspectorates Complex, Mixed-Use Building” and “Palace of Congresses” are in the process of selecting private partners.

Further calls are expected for the development of three complexes, “Justice”, “Security” and “Independent Institutions”, as well as “Public Parking”. These advance announcements indicate that the opportunity to build at least one tower at “Fusha e Aviacionit” will be offered.

The way the government and KISH are handling this development process goes beyond a question of transparency.

Without the contracts and negotiated terms, the public cannot verify whether these projects constitute public investment or simply a “transfer” of state assets to private operators without genuine privatisation and competitive procedures. The issue is therefore not merely procedural transparency, but oversight of how decisions are made about the use of public property.

Without accountability, urban development risks remaining a closed-door decision that citizens understand only when construction sites begin to open or buildings have already gone up.