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With the expropriation of land in Palasa, Edi Rama saved himself

2026-09-04 16:52:24Fokus SHKRUAR NGA REDAKSIA VOX
With the expropriation of land in Palasa, Edi Rama saved himself
Vasil Bedinaj, Edi Rama, Luan Muça

Expropriation may quell the conflict between Luan Muça and Vasil Bedinaj, but it does not eliminate the question of how state institutions registered overlapping property claims and allowed a construction project to develop on disputed land. In the end, the public risks paying the bill for the state's mistakes again.

Just a day after the conflict over a piece of land in Palasa ended with gunmen, shootings, police pursuits and arrests, Prime Minister Edi Rama came up with a solution. He said that the land claimed by businessmen Luan Muça and Vasil Bedinaj will be expropriated and returned to public space.

At first glance, the government's intervention may appear to be a solution in the interest of the citizens. The two businessmen are compensated, the conflict is resolved, and the public benefits from a new space.

But behind this announcement, there are hints of a scandal about why an armed clash had to occur for the state to discover that two businessmen had ownership claims on the same land.

According to the data made public so far, the conflict originates from a piece of land in Palasa, over which two different parties claim ownership.

Initially, Luan Muça appears to have secured ownership documentation for the land where the development of a tourist resort was envisaged. Later, Vasil Bedinaj also purchased and registered an adjacent area, part of which is suspected to overlap with the property claimed by Muça.

If the published documents and the parties' claims are confirmed by the investigation, then we don't just have a conflict between two businessmen. We have a serious state scandal.

The State Cadastral Agency is the institution that administers the registration of immovable property. The ASA itself officially declares that it is a public institution subordinate to the Prime Minister.

This means that the institution under the direct control of Edi Rama must explain how titles or ownership claims that allegedly overlap over the same area were registered.

The scandal becomes even more serious if it turns out that a development or construction permit has also been approved on the disputed land.

Edi Rama is the chairman of the National Council for Territory and Water, the body that decides on permits for complex projects, strategic investments, and developments of national importance.

According to the official territorial planning website, the KKTU is the authority responsible for development and construction permits for complex projects and strategic investments. While Law No. 107/2014 stipulates that this council operates under the Council of Ministers and is chaired by the Prime Minister.

So, Rama's direct political responsibility cannot be hidden behind a local Cadastre counter.

If the KKTU has approved a project on a property for which there were two overlapping documents or claims, then the entire institutional chain must be investigated: from registration in the Cadastre, to technical-legal review, and to the final decision-making of the council chaired by Rama.

A building permit for a large investment cannot be granted without first checking the ownership of the land. If this check is carried out and then concealed, then we are dealing with a criminal offense, the least of which is abuse of office.

It was precisely this institutional chaos that created the conditions for the dispute to spill out of the Cadastre offices and end up between armed men. Two businessmen could lose their lives over a piece of land that the state had recognized, in different forms, to both parties.

Therefore, expropriation is Rama's salvation and the most convenient solution for his government.

The conflict between the parties is resolved, the claimants receive compensation from citizens' taxes, and in the end the land passes into state ownership.

Meanwhile, Rama appears not as the head of the institutions that should have prevented the scandal, but as the man who intervenes to resolve it.

In this way, a story about the failure of the Cadastre and a potentially problematic permit is transformed into a success story about "reclaiming public space."

But expropriation cannot serve as an eraser to erase the past.

Before expropriation, all documents such as property cards, cadastral maps and coordinates, registration dates, development applications, technical-legal relations, and KKTU decisions must be made public.

It must be determined which institution made the mistake, who signed it, and who benefited.

Because by expropriating the land, Edi Rama may have avoided a new conflict between the two businessmen. But, above all, he has found the quickest way to divert attention from the responsibility of the institutions that depend on him.

It does not explain how the ownership documents were created. It does not determine which title was legal. It does not reveal those responsible for the overlap and does not indicate on what documentation the building permit was approved.

Above all, expropriation cannot and should not prevent a criminal or administrative investigation. If there was falsification of documents, abuse of office or illegal interference with property registers, compensation to the parties does not extinguish these acts.

At the end of this story there is also a financial paradox.

Institutions politically directed by the same government allowed the development of projects on disputed property. Now it is the state again that will use taxpayers' money for expropriation and compensation.

So, the government makes mistakes, businessmen conflict, and citizens pay the bill.

And so, by turning the land into public space, Rama not only saved Palasa from a property conflict.

He saved himself from the scandal that could open the black box of the Cadastre and construction permits on the Albanian coast.

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This article is exclusive to Vox News, and is copyrighted under Law No. 35/2016, "On Copyright and Related Rights". The article may be republished by other media only by citing Vox News and including a link to the source at the end, otherwise any violator will be held liable under Article 178 of Law No. 35/2016.


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