Albania Continues Road Project in Protected City, Ignoring UNESCO

Work is continuing on a bypass road in the UNESCO-protected city of Gjirokastra in southern Albania despite a call in July from the UN body for its urgent suspension to assess the risk to the renowned "stone city".

Birthplace of two of Albania's most famous sons, communist dictator Enver Hoxha and the renowned 85-year-old novelist and poet Ismail Kadare, Gjirokastra was named a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2005 thanks to its Ottoman-era architecture, including 17th century two-story stone houses built into a hill and an Ottoman bazaar.

The city is one of Albania's biggest tourist attractions but there is growing concern over the threat posed by ongoing construction of a bypass road.

At its 44th session in China in the second half of July, the World Heritage Committee said it "urgently requests the State Party [Albania] to halt construction" until a monitoring mission is able to visit and assess whether the project has or will cause any damage to the city's "Outstanding Universal Value".

The Committee said Albania had informed it of plans for a bypass in January 2021 and requested a review and recommendations. But the Committee said it had received "third party information" that construction had already begun. It asked Albania to clarify but heard nothing back.

Photographs taken by BIRN at the site on August 17 show ongoing construction work.

"Construction must be stopped," said Gjirokastra architect Kreshnik Merxhani. "Any intrusion into World Heritage Property must be authorised and notified to UNESCO and the World Heritage Committee. This did not happen".

Photo caption Bypass construction site in Gjirokastra. Photo: BIRN

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