Another successful Albanian enterprise stands as clear evidence of the development of one of the sectors playing a key role in the country’s economic and social transformation, the construction sector.
Prime Minister Edi Rama, accompanied by the Minister of Economy and Innovation, Delina Ibrahimaj, visited today the premises of Pajtoni Group, a company that has evolved from a small family business into a consolidated domestic company meeting the demands of the construction market.
Prime Minister Rama discussed as part of a cycle of meetings with enterprises that are well-established and maintain an exemplary relationship with the state in terms of taxation, as well as social and health insurance, while sustaining a steady growth trajectory.
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Prime Minister Edi Rama: Greetings to everyone!
We are here together with the Minister of Economy, also as part of a cycle of meetings with enterprises that have become consolidated, that have an absolutely exemplary relationship with the state in terms of taxes, in terms of social and health insurance, and that today have a balance sheet of sustainable growth, such as the one that was presented a little earlier.
On the other hand, we came here precisely to see how the company has grown, what the company has done over the years, and how today in this company, as in many other companies, there are jobs that are paid absolutely the same as in Europe and naturally, when I say in Europe, I mean neighbouring Europe, I do not mean France or Germany, but I certainly mean Greece, I mean Croatia etc.. And on the other hand, given that together with the Minister we want to talk about how this whole transforming reality, also in the construction sector, supports its own growth through an economy that is growing, we thought it appropriate to ask the founder of the company to also present the new project, and in this way we are having a two-sided discussion: on the one hand what has been done up to now, and on the other hand a project that is an ambition for the future and that is a reflection of a construction sector which in Albania brings many good things, but which on the other hand unfortunately, like everything in this country that is attacked when it appears with success, that is struck when it appears as change, that is covered with mud when it appears as a sign of tomorrow, is a sector that continuously receives blows, attacks, mud, and that hurts a large number of its protagonists.
No one disputes that in the construction sector too, as in every other sector, just as in Albania as in every other country, including countries that lecture us, there are problems, and the problems here in Albania are certainly sharper in some cases than they are in other countries. No one disputes that not everything in the construction sector is clean, clear as daylight, and as precious as the sweat of the tens of thousands of people who give life to this sector. But that this evident success of Albania, that this transformation of Albania, which the construction sector makes visible and tangible the moment someone comes to Albania, should be put into the frame of crime, is something disgusting and unacceptable.
Here is one of those who stands behind these projects. Others who come to visit us find it difficult to believe that Albania could build such constructions. But no matter that they find it difficult. There are many reasons why Albania can build such constructions, and they are reasons that are easily readable by all those who want to read them as they are. Some people can’t accept Albania’s success, but so what. What is impossible for us, however, is to accept that the overwhelming majority of those who invest in construction should be thrown into the sack of mud because of a few who may indeed be as is said, but not all of them, and there are some important facts to underline, starting with this project alone, before work has even begun.
The Municipality of Tirana has received 14 million euros in tax from this project alone. 14 million euros is a considerable amount, while in this project, from this project when it becomes reality, the city will gain, the community will gain a nursery, it will gain a kindergarten, and in the meantime the Municipality of Tirana may also gain a school, because the investor’s commitment in this case is to build the school as well, at the moment the land is given to him to build it, and within these 14 million euros there is also the part that goes to the 3% for housing. So whoever invests in these projects naturally invests for added value; there is no question. Without any doubt, no poor person and no person who simply lives on a low or average wage can buy these apartments, but from the construction of these apartments, the Municipality of Tirana and the municipalities that permit such construction receive a tax, which is 3% solely for the housing fund, to build and invest in social housing and affordable housing schemes. So these constructions also contribute to affordable housing.
Without going too deep into it, I want to say that meanwhile, for all those who bark in every language they bark in, from Albanian to English and in other languages as well, and who immediately rush to frame this transformation of Albania and Tirana as the transformation of crime, as we speak today this project has 350 apartments ordered by the Albanian diaspora alone, and they are ordered and not paid in cash, to be very clear, but paid through the bank. They are paid through the bank, and 350 apartments are one quarter of the apartments that this entire large complex will have, and today they are ordered and contracted. Therefore, it is very important that from time to time people be informed, and this is also the reason why we are trying, by going ourselves, to show those who want to be informed what the reality is of an ever longer chain of links in an economy that grows, that grows and grows sustainably.
A group, an enterprise which started as a small construction business and today is a holding with 20 companies, and these companies were created through work, they were not created by crime. These companies were created by an entire history of efforts and of many, many people who were added along the way.
All of this grows the economy. How did we move from 300 to 400 million euros in foreign investment to more than 1.5 billion euros a year today? How did the day come when foreigners started coming here to buy in Albania, and will buy even more of these apartments and developments, because these developments create positive energy, create confidence, and create attraction. They are not simply dormitories where people put their heads down. And naturally, we are on this road of becoming part of another world, an integrated world. Integration does not simply mean that we will become part of the European Union, and nobody will come here. Integration means that here, as elsewhere, people will buy homes, open businesses, live here, send their children to school here, including people from other countries. And these developments are proof of Albania’s ambition and of Albania’s strength to realise that ambition. These are not crime scenes. They are evidence of a great transformation.
How did Albania’s gross domestic product grow?
It was under 10 billion euros when we took office.
Today it stands at 27 billion. At the same time, income per capita was less than 3,000 euros. Today it is over 11,000, and it will continue to rise.
And now I will naturally give the floor to the Minister, while welcoming everything you have to say and thanking our host for the opportunity he has given us. But before I hand over to the Minister, I want to say that everything happening in the construction sector also gives us momentum to move faster on the road to membership, to become members of the European Union sooner, because joining the European Union is not a formal certificate. It is a process of transformation. And all those steps that the European Commission certifies for us are not just papers; they are a transformation in reality here. That is why those who speak today of an Albania supposedly gripped by corruption are, in fact, gripped by their own resentment towards success, the success of the gentleman here, the success of all those here who succeed on their own path, because they simply cannot find it within themselves to acknowledge it and to forgive someone else’s success.
Those who say corruption has increased should, in fact, listen to you. Because corruption cannot be increasing when you are paying 14 million euros in tax. Whereas when corruption was supposedly higher, you were paying much less tax, because tax rates are in the hands of those who govern, who are at the same time either promoters of, or opponents to, corruption. But 14 million euros in tax and corruption do not go together. The two do not go hand in hand. If revenues are growing, they do not grow because of rain. They grow because of taxes. And if the state treasury has more revenue, and we have much more revenue, then that means there is less corruption. And all the builders who cross the threshold to obtain these permits can testify that their struggle with us is over the quality of the projects. That is why there are cases that are talked about. Otherwise, what would we even be discussing, and how could we claim to be reducing corruption if there were no examples of this kind as well? So the positive examples of construction, transformation, economic growth, wage growth, pension growth, and growth in state budget revenues, and the negative examples exposed in the fight against corruption, are two sides of the same coin: there is more economy here, and less corruption.
