The Retro Bulqizë 2024 Thematic Park project is an innovative tourism initiative that aims to transform a previously degraded military area into a new destination for visitors and tourists, especially from northern Albania and, in particular, the Dibër region. The completion of the Arbri Road has already brought significant changes to many aspects of the area. The project will revitalize a former mining zone, creating a new tourism asset called “Divizioni,” which will become one of the key hubs for tourism development.

The revived “Divizioni” will feature a hospitality destination, including a market for local products, hotels, and services, catering to visitors who wish to stop briefly or stay longer while exploring the area’s stunning natural beauty.

Prime Minister Edi Rama attended the presentation of the Retro Bulqizë 2024 project, together with Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Infrastructure and Energy, Belinda Balluku. “This park will be a new economic engine for Bulqizë, a region historically known for its mines and later as a symbol of sacrifice and hardship due to the difficult stories of the transition, which we have now left behind. It’s time for the identity of Bulqizë, which has long been associated solely with mining and chrome, and with the sacrifices of those who lived here for various reasons, to be redefined and diversified with the natural wonders that surround it,” said Prime Minister Rama.

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Prime Minister Edi Rama: Good morning, everyone. It is truly a pleasure to be here today in Bulqizë, alongside Belinda and the Albanian Development Fund, to launch the construction of a very special project. This project will not only transform a territory that, until the early 2000s, was part of the Albanian army and is now a symbol of degradation, but it will also create a unique tourism destination. The Development Fund will build the entire infrastructure on an area of about 10 hectares and will also create the conditions to welcome local artisans, particularly women, who are symbols of the effort to live through honest work by preserving and cultivating traditions. These include both the region’s culinary and artisan traditions, which are vital for not only preparing local products but also preserving traditions and promoting tourism in the area.

This space will also support local farmers, as well as those who collect and process medicinal plants. It will welcome families, grandparents, and children to its recreational areas, and, of course, will feature a hotel structure managed by the Albanian Development Fund in collaboration with the women of the region. This will serve as a stopover for local travelers passing through, as well as for foreign tourists, whose numbers, as the minister pointed out, are growing rapidly year after year in this district. Just a few years ago, when you mentioned tourism here, people would look at you as if you were joking. It was a real challenge, as discussing tourism would often lead to skeptical looks and criticisms, with people quick to point out your mistakes, even when the true criticism came from unexpected sources.

Everyone can see and experience how Dibra is transforming into a place where it is no longer just an adventure, but a wise investment for savings in agritourism, tourism, production, collection, and agro-processing. Increasingly, Dibra will become a destination not only for foreign tourists but also for the residents of the capital.

The thematic park we are starting to build will be just 30-35 minutes from Tirana, and without a doubt, it will become one of the top weekend destinations for many families in the capital, who will come here to bring their children. As was generally presented—though the project has many intricate details—one of the architects from the studio explained that this park will offer numerous unique opportunities for children to enjoy themselves in the heart of nature.

On the other hand, this park will serve as an economic engine for Bulqizë, a region historically associated with its mines, which later became a symbol of sacrifice and hardship due to the many difficult stories of the transition that we have now left behind. We have left this behind because, for years, we no longer hear about deaths caused by total job insecurity, or about young children forced into labor by poverty to carry baskets for collecting chrome. For years, we no longer hear about medieval-like conditions in this area, where even in the mines a new standard has been set, and where those who continue to work underground now earn wages far higher than the pitiful handouts of the past.

I am very pleased that this project is coming to life, especially because it represents another asset that has escaped the grip of past mismanagement, where many such assets were left in the hands of incompetence, irresponsibility, or in the hands of unaccountable individuals. Unfortunately, due to certain privatizations, we still see these assets today as we walk through the streets of Albania, and for many of them, as a government, we are unable to intervene because of the legal documents that are still held by those same individuals.

At the same time, here we are taking a step further in transforming the Albanian Development Fund, not just into a budget consumer for investments, but into an administrator of projects and assets.

We are entering a new phase in the management of military property. For this reason, the Ministry of Defense is setting up a special department to develop these properties, without relinquishing state or Ministry of Defense ownership. This will create space for various types of partnerships, but above all, it will turn these remaining assets, which are often still treated as military sites with no soldiers present, into a source of income for the local economy—primarily for tourism, but also for the Ministry of Defense.

This is a completely new phase, a phase that marks a new level of the economy. A new economic level that gives us the opportunity today, in just a few days, to make a decision that, just two or three years ago, would have been unimaginable—deciding to allocate 100 million euros from the state budget directly to pensioners. Pensioners with pensions up to 20,000 lek will receive 150 euros, and those with pensions over 20,000 lek will receive 100 euros. These payments will begin to be disbursed starting from the second week of December.

Beyond pensions, there are also investments, and I don’t want to go into too much detail, but I want to briefly touch on what Belinda mentioned—investments in the north. It is hard to imagine that the perverse, divisive, and hateful narrative that has dominated our politics for over 30 years, for reasons that you all know and I will not discuss here, continues to spread. Some people still believe the narrative that our government has not made any investments in the north.

The past has been extremely difficult, and I’m not here to tell you that—you have lived through the horrors of the past in Bulqizë. The exit from that tunnel has already been made, and we will never go back into that tunnel. The road ahead may still be steep, but the sun has already risen over Albania. Now, it is up to all of us to turn our legitimate hopes into reality and, of course, to address with solidarity the legitimate needs of those who require more support and the hand of the state. But one thing is certain: this country will never go backward.

Thank you!