![\"Information](\"https:\/\/www.reporter.al\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Informacioni-i-AZHT-330x400.jpeg\")
Plans to transform the Pish\u00eb Poro\u2013Narta wetland ecosystem into construction sites for luxury resorts began in 2021, when the Council of Ministers downgraded its protection status from a \u201cmanaged nature reserve\u201d to a \u201cprotected landscape.\u201d The government also decided to shrink the area of the ecosystem by more than 5,000 hectares. <\/p>\n
In 2024, Jared Kushner sparked considerable surprise when he told the U.S. media outlet Bloomberg about his plans to invest in luxury resorts on Sazan Island and in Zv\u00ebrnec. According to the initial plans, around 10,000 tourist accommodation units were expected to be built in the Zv\u00ebrnec area along a green strip of land separating the Narta lagoon from the Adriatic Sea. <\/p>\n
The company \u201cZv\u00ebrnec South Adriatic Development\u201d was established in August 2024 and, within eight months, secured two development permits from the National Territorial Council for tourist resorts in Zv\u00ebrnec, although the permits had still not been officially published by early March.<\/p>\n
\u201cZv\u00ebrnec South Adriatic Development\u201d is owned by the offshore company \u201cDutch Trust Management BV,\u201d registered in the Netherlands. According to documents filed with Albania\u2019s National Business Centre, the company is linked through a network of shell companies to the Sazan Island project and to Qatari investor brothers Ramez Al-Khayyat and Mohamad Al-Khayyat. <\/p>\n
Following the development permits, \u201cZv\u00ebrnec South Adriatic Development\u201d also received, on April 29, a permit to carry out fencing and preparatory works related to the construction of access roads within the property, according to an AZHT document obtained by BIRN.<\/p>\n
However, AZHT informed the company that the permit in question was still awaiting formal approval and signatures from the responsible institutions.<\/p>\n
An employee of the Administration of Protected Areas, speaking to BIRN on condition of anonymity, said they had been unable to interpret the legal meaning of the document presented during the inspection carried out on May 2 and had therefore requested clarification from the central office in Tirana.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey did not provide us with official documents, but they gave us a permit from AZHT, which we were not in a position to interpret legally, so we forwarded it to headquarters,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
He said they decided to order a suspension of the works, but company representatives responded that any further communication would have to be handled with Tirana.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe went there on Saturday and issued an order suspending the works,\u201d he said, adding that the heavy machinery remains on site and that the Administration of Protected Areas is monitoring the area with guards.<\/p>\n
On May 6, environmental activists documented the continuation of works by heavy machinery in Pish\u00eb Poro for the establishment of the construction site.<\/p>\n
At the Mercy of the Bulldozers <\/strong><\/p>\n The passage of a convoy of trucks loaded with construction materials heading toward the coast at the end of April also alarmed residents of Zv\u00ebrnec. One resident told BIRN that he had seen the trucks being escorted by \u201ca delegation of luxury cars.\u201d <\/p>\n \u201cI saw around eight \u2018dalika\u2019 [Greek for trucks] loaded with gravel, and then what looked like a delegation of cars arrived,\u201d he said on condition of anonymity, describing the matter as \u201csensitive business.\u201d<\/p>\n He further explained that the trucks stopped on the road linking the Zv\u00ebrnec Monastery with the coastline, and that two of them unloaded their cargo onto the road.<\/p>\n \u201cThey told us they were building a road, but I don\u2019t understand what this is about,\u201d he added, saying it appeared to him to be a show of force, as the heavy vehicles left immediately after the luxury cars, which he suspected were carrying officials.<\/p>\n Kosta Xhaho, a representative of the environmental organisation Protection and Preservation of Natural Environment in Albania in Vlor\u00eb, told BIRN that the area where the works are taking place had burned down two years ago. He added that 600 pine saplings had been planted to rehabilitate it. <\/p>\n In an official statement, Protection and Preservation of Natural Environment in Albania accused the authorities of abandoning the territory \u201cthey are supposed to protect, leaving it at the mercy of bulldozers and gravel that is replacing the vegetation.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThe most important wildlife area in Pish\u00eb Poro\u2013Narta is being plundered in a bandit-like manner, without any public notice,\u201d Protection and Preservation of Natural Environment in Albania said.<\/p>\n The other environmental organisation, Albanian Ornithological Society, led by Taulant Bino, reacted along similar lines.<\/p>\n \u201cThey are here, and this time with bulldozers\u2026,\u201d Albanian Ornithological Society said in a statement. Contradictory Reactions <\/strong><\/p>\n Local and central authorities have given contradictory accounts and appear unable to say whether the works in the protected Pish\u00eb Poro\u2013Narta area began with or without a permit. Bruna Mersini, the mayor of Vlor\u00eb, told BIRN that the works in the area were being carried out with authorisation from AZHT. <\/p>\n \u201cIt is the company behind the Zv\u00ebrnec project that is carrying out the fencing of the construction site. They have authorisation from AZHT,\u201d Bruna Mersini said. When informed that the permit is not issued by AZHT but by the National Territorial Council, Mayor Mersini referred BIRN to the central authorities. <\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t know, I\u2019m not aware of the details. You should ask AZHT and the National Territorial Council about this, but they are carrying out fencing works there and have presented a document from AZHT,\u201d Bruna Mersini said.<\/p>\n On the other hand, Afrim Q\u00ebndro, head of the National Inspectorate for Territorial Protection, IKMT, said that the works in the area did not fall under the jurisdiction of the institution he leads. Q\u00ebndro said the works involved the reopening of an existing road and that responsibility rested solely with the Administration of Protected Areas. <\/p>\n \u201cIt is not within our jurisdiction. We have no information about the start of construction works. What is taking place is part of the widening of the road. Opening a road in a protected area is the responsibility of the Administration of Protected Areas,\u201d Afrim Q\u00ebndro said by phone. <\/p>\n Q\u00ebndro said he had also discussed the case with Mayor Bruna Mersini. But when informed that Mersini had confirmed the works were related to the establishment of a construction site, Q\u00ebndro changed his position. <\/p>\n \u201cI will send inspectors tomorrow morning to verify what the mayor has told you,\u201d Afrim Q\u00ebndro said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" On the sunny Thursday of April 30, environmental activist Taulant Bino was near the picturesque Hidrovori beach on the edge of the Narta lagoon, north of the village of Zv\u00ebrnec, when he noticed a convoy of heavy trucks carrying construction materials and a group of workers fencing off the protected area. Several excavators were flattening […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":97,"featured_media":117814,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_stopmodifiedupdate":false,"_modified_date":"","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"The company behind the luxury resort in Zv\u00ebrnec has begun works in the heart of the protected Pish\u00eb Poro\u2013Narta ecosystem with a still-unpublished permit from the National Territorial Council, while local and central institutions appear to be turning a blind eye.","_seopress_robots_index":"","_seopress_robots_follow":"","_seopress_robots_imageindex":"","_seopress_robots_snippet":"","_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"none","_seopress_robots_breadcrumbs":"","_seopress_robots_freeze_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_custom_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_canonical":"","_seopress_social_fb_title":"","_seopress_social_fb_desc":"","_seopress_social_fb_img":"","_seopress_social_fb_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_height":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_title":"","_seopress_social_twitter_desc":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_height":0,"_seopress_redirections_value":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled_regex":"","_seopress_redirections_logged_status":"both","_seopress_redirections_param":"","_seopress_redirections_type":301,"_seopress_analysis_target_kw":"","jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"jnews_override_counter":[],"footnotes":"","tve_updated_post":"","tve_custom_css":"","tve_user_custom_css":"","tve_globals":{},"tcb2_ready":0,"tcb_editor_enabled":0,"tve_landing_page":"","_tve_header":"","_tve_footer":""},"categories":[44,14931,14955],"tags":[14968,14960,14967,14933,14963,14965,14956,14957,14959,14958,14962,14961,14964,14966],"coauthors":[198],"class_list":["post-117819","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-investigations","category-main-article","category-main-article-investigations","tag-afrim-qendro","tag-aos","tag-bruna-mersini","tag-edi-rama","tag-jared-kushner","tag-pishe-poro-narte","tag-ppnea","tag-taulant-bino","tag-the-ministry-of-environment","tag-the-national-territorial-council","tag-the-national-territorial-development-agency","tag-the-protected-area","tag-the-resort-in-zvernec","tag-zvernec-south-adriatic-development"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.reporter.al\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/117819","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.reporter.al\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.reporter.al\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.reporter.al\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/97"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.reporter.al\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=117819"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.reporter.al\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/117819\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.reporter.al\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/117814"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.reporter.al\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=117819"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.reporter.al\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=117819"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.reporter.al\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=117819"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.reporter.al\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=117819"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Works](\"https:\/\/www.reporter.al\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Punimet-6-maj.jpeg\")
\n\u201cJared Kushner\u2019s plan is no longer just a polished rendering, because works in the Hidrovori area have begun and foresee more than 20,000 accommodation units and over 10,000 visitors per day, right in one of the most sensitive areas where three protected zones meet,\u201d Albanian Ornithological Society added.<\/p>\n![\"zvernec](\"https:\/\/www.reporter.al\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Zvernec-3.jpeg\")