Trump-linked Albania hotel project damaged coast, NGOs say

Preliminary work on a hotel project linked to the Trump family has already caused irreparable damage to part of Albania's coast, scientists and environmental activists say.

Satellite images obtained by AFP show that during a 25-day period in May, a road was cleared, an area was deforested and a bridge was built over the channel connecting the Narta lagoon to the sea.

Olsi Nika, a marine biologist who heads the NGO EcoAlbania, told AFP that bulldozers on the beaches had damaged nesting sites of loggerhead turtles, which are threatened with extinction. He said access roads through dunes, tree felling and work on the channel had also disturbed bird nesting grounds and disrupted water flows needed to maintain wetlands.

Ferdinand Bego, a professor at the University of Tirana, said daily demonstrations had led to the suspension of some work, but that damage caused to the heritage site before construction began was largely irreparable.

Environmental activists have long opposed the 4.5 billion-euro project, first mooted in 2024 by Jared Kushner, the son-in-law of US President Donald Trump. The plan involves luxury hotels near flamingo colonies and on a deserted island.

Ivanka Trump said in a podcast that the project included the island, five miles of beachfront and a peninsula with a lagoon on one side and the ocean on the other.

Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama has defended the project, saying it will attract international capital, create jobs and help Albania compete with coastal neighbours including Montenegro, Greece and Croatia.

Scientists who visited the site in mid-June reported damage to turtle nesting sites, bird habitats and dunes. Marta Kos, the European Commissioner for Enlargement, said in July that the European Union had agreed with Albania that it would repeal 2024 amendments to the law on protected areas and repeal the law on strategic investment.

Friedrich Schiemer, a professor from the University of Vienna who visited the site in June, said it was urgent to limit damage to the area and warned that large-scale tourism projects could irreparably compromise its natural integrity.