Albania resort plan tied to Kushner draws protests and lawsuits
Albania’s preliminary backing for a coastal luxury resort has triggered protests, environmental lawsuits and scrutiny of the project’s investors.
By Sofia Marchetti · World Affairs Correspondent
4 min read
Daily protests in Albania are building against a proposed luxury resort on the Adriatic coast linked to Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump, after the government gave the project preliminary approval, NPR reported. The dispute has become a broader test of public trust in Prime Minister Edi Rama’s government and its handling of protected coastal land.
Demonstrators have gathered outside Rama’s office in Tirana and at the proposed resort site in Zvërnec, a coastal area across from Sazan, an uninhabited island. NPR reported that organizers said thousands attended a June 10 rally, the 10th straight day of demonstrations.
According to NPR, protesters accuse the government of opening public and environmentally sensitive land to private development. Eden Hosha, a protester, told NPR that the anger began after a national area was closed to the public and trucks began work in a protected zone.
Protected coast at center of dispute
The project would involve land in and around Zvërnec, near the Vjose-Narte ecological area, NPR reported. Taulant Bino, who heads the Albanian Ornithological Society, told NPR that his group has identified 250 bird species in the Narte Lagoon and that the area is important for breeding and wintering birds.
Bino told NPR that an access road built into the protected area during breeding season could harm birds and other animals, including amphibians and reptiles. He also said the project ideas he has seen point to buildings and as many as 10,000 rooms, which he described to NPR as closer to a new city than an environmental project.
Ivanka Trump described the Albanian sites in a recent interview with podcaster David Senra, saying she and Kushner first encountered Sazan during a boat trip years earlier and later developed an opportunity involving the island and beachfront across from it. She told Senra the plan reflected her real estate experience, travel and thinking about how she wants to live.
Legal challenges and ownership questions
A coalition of environmental groups has filed legal challenges against Albania’s government over the development, according to NPR. Their lawyer, Dorian Matlija, told NPR the land is covered by international protections, including the European Union’s Natura 2000 network, and said Albania’s EU candidate status makes those rules relevant.
Matlija told NPR that a 2024 law advanced by Rama removed Albanian protections for the ecosystem and allowed five-star hotels on the land. He said the law conflicts with Albanian and EU rules and could complicate both Albania’s EU ambitions and the investors’ legal position.
The project also faces scrutiny from anti-corruption authorities. NPR reported that Albanian prosecutors on June 2 froze bank accounts belonging to a company that bought land along the protected coastline as part of an investigation into allegedly fraudulent property titles. NPR identified the company as Albania Land Development, owned by Qatari brothers Moutaz and Ramez Al-Khayyat, who it said are helping finance and build the resort; NPR said the brothers did not respond to a request for comment.
When NPR contacted Kushner’s Affinity Partners, a representative for Sazan Real Estate Development responded with a statement from businessman Asher Abehsera, saying the project’s focus was responsible stewardship, environmental enhancement, jobs and long-term value for local communities. The representative also told NPR that Affinity Partners has no role in the project and that partners are investing personally.
NPR also reported that Albanian investigative journalist Lindita Cela has traced a chain of companies connected to the project through Albania and the Netherlands. Cela told NPR that Albanian documents make it difficult to identify the investors and said several related shell companies share an Amsterdam address and are each valued at one euro.
Rama’s office told NPR in a statement that the government understands major investments can create public debate and differing views. The statement said the ambition is to create a new model for sustainable Mediterranean development.
For some Albanians, the issue is access as much as ecology. Albi Batozi, a 34-year-old software engineer who protested at Zvërnec, told NPR that public land should be available to everyone and said he fears a resort would close off part of the coast to most Albanians.
This story draws on original reporting from NPR.