Construction of a 5-tower complex has begun next to the Artificial Lake dam. It is a massive project called Tirana Lake, which has 5 towers with a total construction area of 228.3 thousand square meters.
Tirana Lake Project
The construction company of the complex is Building Construction Invest. This company was founded in September 2021 by Ilir Merja. But then the company changed hands several times. Initially, Ilir Merja sold the company for 5 million lek to a joint-stock company called BA Investment, which is owned by Nexhip Hajdëraj, a former oilman, ARMO employee.
BA Investment only owned the company for three months. In February 2022, it sold Building Construction to a company called MAT & Nat, which is owned by Ardian Avdalli. The sale price this time was 10 million lek.
But Avdalli was not designated as the ultimate owner of the Tirana Lake project either. At the end of 2023, the Building Construction company was sold again. This time the buyer was Armand Lilo's AMAR company and the sale price was 12.5 million euros.
According to the sales contract, Avdalli received 500 thousand euros immediately upon signing the contract, while the remaining 12 million euros will be received in kind with construction land.
The Tirana Lake project
covers a land area of 32.5 square meters. Part of it, about 2,100 square meters, was purchased from the state by the Building Construction company through a contract with the Ministry of Finance for a value of 143 million lek or about 68 thousand lek per meter.
In yellow, the place where the Tirana Lake complex will be built.
The project envisages the construction of 5 17-story towers, which will add to the complex of towers that is rapidly being built in that area, despite public opposition to the concreting of the Lake, as well as safety concerns.
In 2015, the Socialists strongly opposed the construction of a complex by the Gener 2 company under the Lake Dam, protesting even before the Administrative Court. The permit for this project was granted by Lulzim Basha and according to the Socialists, led by the now-dismissed former mayor, Erion Veliaj, the project jeopardized the safety of the Lake Dam.
But the court deemed the project permit legal and the Rilindas' concern for the lake was allayed, to the point that they themselves then began granting permits for massive concrete under the Lake dam.
Editorial
