Overview
- Albania’s Special Anti‑Corruption Prosecution Office (SPAK) has opened a formal investigation into 2024 changes to the protected status and land deals that enabled the Sazan Island and Vjosa‑Narta development.
- Large protests have erupted nationwide after developers installed barbed‑wire fences and heavy machinery, and video showing private security dragging a demonstrator led authorities to revoke two security firms’ licenses, arrest one guard, and strip a local police chief of duties.
- The project is linked to Jared Kushner’s Affinity Partners and Ivanka Trump and would cover Sazan Island plus several hundred hectares of the Vjosa‑Narta coastal landscape in plans that reportedly include thousands of hotel rooms.
- Prime Minister Edi Rama has defended the investment and says final plans and the environmental study are not complete, but critics point to December 2024 ‘strategic investor’ approvals and cite a 2025 Serbia precedent where a Kushner‑linked plan collapsed after probes.
- Environmental groups warn the development threatens important habitats for flamingos, Mediterranean monk seals and sea‑turtle nesting sites, and SPAK’s involvement could determine whether permits proceed or the project stalls under legal and political pressure.