Thousands of people have protested across Albania against a planned luxury resort development on the country’s Adriatic coast linked to Jared Kushner, the son-in-law of United States President Donald Trump.
The project covers the uninhabited island of Sazan and the protected delta area of Vjosa-Narta, where developers plan hotels, apartments and villas. The investment on Sazan alone is valued at $1.6bn, while Prime Minister Edi Rama has referred to a wider four-billion-euro ($4.7bn) project covering the Vlora region.
Excavators and heavy machinery began work in the area last month, opening access routes, digging into the sand, clearing land among pine trees and installing fencing. The arrival of bulldozers on the beaches triggered the wave of demonstrations.
Demonstrators clashed with private security guards on Saturday after developers installed barbed wire blocking access to the beach. Thousands have since rallied in the capital, Tirana, for three consecutive evenings, calling for the project to be cancelled and for former landowners to recover their property.
On Tuesday evening, protesters gathered outside Rama’s office holding signs that read “Nation is not for sale” and “I don’t want Albania like Dubai”. Some carried cardboard cut-outs of pink flamingos, a protected migratory bird species found in the area.
The plan first emerged more than two years ago. Shortly after the announcement in 2024, the government granted “strategic investor” status to Atlantic Incubation Partners, a firm linked to Kushner’s Affinity Partners fund. The scheme also involves turning a former communist-era military base on Sazan into a resort.
Ivanka Trump, the eldest daughter of President Trump and Kushner’s wife, has played a visible role in the project. She has visited the Vlora region accompanied by architects and investors and has met Rama. In an interview with American podcaster David Senra, she described first encountering the island during a swim from a friend’s boat, saying she and Kushner hiked barefoot to the top and were “captivated”.
Affinity Partners referred questions to a PR agency working on the development. The agency said the project is being led by Sazan Real Estate Development LLC, not Affinity Partners, and that any investors involved are doing so in their personal capacity.
“We’re excited about the opportunity to create a world-class destination and make one of the largest private investments in the region’s history,” said Asher Abehsera, chairman of Sazan Real Estate Development, in a statement. He said the focus remained on responsible stewardship, environmental enhancement, job creation and long-term value for local communities.
Rama hopes the high-profile development will position Albania as a major global tourism destination. The project is also symbolic of the country’s efforts to distance itself from its communist past as it pursues European Union membership.
“Albania should not be a country that fears an extraordinary project like this one, where exceptional partners have come together to invest four billion euros ($4.7bn),” Rama has stated. “There is no chance for this investment to stop as long as I am here.”
Environmental concerns top the list of objections. Green organisations fear the development will damage protected land and the coastline along the Adriatic Sea, which has remained largely undeveloped since the communist era. The reserve is one of Albania’s most biodiverse areas and an important stopover for migratory birds.
More than 40 environmental groups, led by the Protection and Preservation of Natural Environment in Albania, wrote to the government in January demanding the project be suspended. A linked petition has gathered nearly 60,000 signatures.
Critics trace the development to a law passed by parliament in February 2024 that removed the ban on construction in protected areas. A new airport is also under construction in Vlora, close to the protected area of Narta-Zvernec.
“We are a small country, and we cannot allow Albania to become a new Dubai,” said Eva Kushova, executive director of the nonprofit Destination Management Organization. “We believe Albania should first serve its own people and not destroy its history and nature for the sake of luxury tourism.”
Albania’s special anticorruption prosecutor’s office has opened an investigation into changes to the protected status of the Vjosa-Narta area. It will also examine how officials bypassed the normal system of public tenders and the origin of the funds used to buy land titles.
The controversy echoes a previous Kushner-linked venture. In November, Serbia’s parliament passed a special law to enable a luxury development in Belgrade. A month later, prosecutors charged four people, including a government minister, with abuse of office and document forgery, and Kushner withdrew from the investment.
Rama has dismissed the protests and accused the media of exaggerating their size. The prime minister, who won a fourth term last year, has pledged to bring one of Europe’s poorest countries into the EU by 2030.
The previous day, Rama met the president of the European Council, Antonio Costa, who praised Albania’s progress but noted that accession depends on meeting EU environmental standards. “In the accession process, Albania is expected to align its environmental legislation fully with the European acquis,” Costa said.
Rama defended the development for its economic benefits. “If a tourist pays 2,000 euros ($2,326) a night, then it is the cook, the driver, the fisherman, the farmer, the developer and the local businesses that benefit,” he said.
Kushova challenged that view, noting that many beaches in southern Albania have been privatised and public access lost. “Luxury tourism can generate revenue and attract foreign investment, but it becomes economically unsound if benefits are concentrated among investors while environmental and social costs are borne by local communities,” she said.
Photo Credit: Hotolmo22 – Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, Link
