Kushner Island? Why a planned resort has provoked protests in Albania

To Ivanka Trump, Sazan was a “find”. Thousands of Albanians, however, fear that it could be their loss.

In an interview with American podcaster David Senra this week, Ivanka – the eldest daughter of United States President Donald Trump – described the uninhabited island off Albania’s west coast almost as a patch of land that she and her husband Jared Kushner were the first to discover.

Recommended Stories

list of 4 itemslist 1 of 4Antigovernment protests in Albania turn violent, at least 13 arrested

list 2 of 4Explosions and fireworks at Albania anti-government protests

list 3 of 4Clashes in Albania as protesters demand PM Rama resign

list 4 of 4Beaten, left to die, robbed: Refugees tell of violence on Croatian border

end of list

“We were on a friend’s boat, and we stopped for a swim. Effectively, that’s how we found it,” she said, speaking of the island where a proposed luxury development plan linked to Kushner has provoked widespread anger across Albania.

“We swam to the island. We went on a hike, barefoot all the way up to the top, and we were just captivated.”

That captivation ultimately led to a project which was unveiled more than two years ago involving the construction of luxury hotels. But when the bulldozers arrived on the beaches in recent days, protesters rallied in the thousands.

The government says the development on Albania’s Adriatic coast will be hugely valuable for the country – but it has drawn opposition from environmental campaigners and critics of longtime Socialist Prime Minister Edi Rama.

So what is the Kushner’s luxury resort project – and why has it caused so much controversy?

What do the Kushners have planned for the island?

The Kushner vision is a sprawling, seaside development brimming with hotels, apartments and villas in the wildlife reserve of the protected delta area of Vjosa-Narta. It will also involve turning a former communist-era military base into a resort on Sazan.

Shortly after the project’s announcement in 2024, the government granted “strategic investor” status to Atlantic Incubation Partners, a firm linked to Kushner’s Affinity Partners fund.

Ivanka Trump has since visited the Vlora region, accompanied by architects and investors, and has also met Rama.

Excavators and other heavy machinery began work in the area last month, opening access routes, digging into the sand, clearing land among pine trees and installing fencing.

The investment on Sazan island is valued at $1.6bn, while Rama recently referred to a four-billion euro ($4.7bn) project that he said included the Vlora area.

Affinity Partners referred Al Jazeera’s questions to a PR agency working on the development project. The agency said the development is being led by Sazan Real Estate Development LLC, not Affinity Partners, and that any investors involved are doing so “in their personal capacity”.

The agency provided a statement attributed to Asher Abehsera, chairman of Sazan Real Estate Development.

“We’re excited about the opportunity to create a world-class destination and make one of the largest private investments in the region’s history,” the statement read.

“Our focus remains on responsible stewardship, environmental enhancement, job creation, and creating long-term value for local communities. We respect the ongoing public and institutional processes, and we stand ready to move forward as they unfold.”

What does the Albanian government stand to gain?

Rama hopes the high-profile project will set Albania up to become a major global tourism destination. It is also symbolic of the country’s efforts to distance itself from its communist past as it vies for European Union membership.

“Albania should not be a country that fears an extraordinary project like this one, where exceptional partners have come together to invest four billion euros ($4.7bn),” Rama has stated.

“There is no chance for this investment to stop as long as I am here.”

Who is protesting against the project and why?

In the past few days, thousands of people have protested after videos emerged of bulldozers on beaches in the area. Demonstrators clashed with private security guards on Saturday in the region after developers installed barbed wire blocking access to the beach.

Thousands have since rallied in the capital, Tirana, for three consecutive evenings, calling for the project to be cancelled and former owners to get their land back, with more protests planned in the coming days.

On Tuesday evening, demonstrators protested outside Rama’s office in Tirana, holding signs that read “Nation is not for sale” and “I don’t want Albania like Dubai”.

Eva Kushova, an expert in sustainable tourism and executive director of the Albanian nonprofit, Destination Management Organization, shared that sentiment.

“We are a small country, and we cannot allow Albania to become a new Dubai. The vision of this government is to transform Albania into a country of skyscrapers and elite tourism, but we believe Albania should first serve its own people and not destroy its history and nature for the sake of luxury tourism,” Kushova told Al Jazeera.

Environmental concerns top the list of reasons for the backlash to the development project.

Green organisations fear it will trample protected land and the pristine coastline along the Adriatic Sea, which has been left largely undeveloped since the country’s communist era.

More than 40 environmental groups, led by the Protection and Preservation of Natural Environment in Albania (PPNEA), wrote to the government in January demanding suspension of the project. PPNEA’s website links to a petition with nearly 60,000 signatures calling for an end to construction.

The nature reserve where the project is planned is one of Albania’s most valuable biodiverse areas, an important stopover for migratory birds along the Adriatic coast.

Protesters at rallies in Tirana have carried cardboard cut-outs of pink flamingos, one of the protected migratory bird species.

The protests stem from a law approved by Albania’s parliament in February 2024 that removed the ban on construction in protected areas, according to Kushova.

A new airport is also under construction in Vlora, close to the protected area of Narta-Zvernec, which has also triggered protests, she said.

“Now we see the whole picture. It seems that all this construction was planned years ago: the airport, the Sazan military island, and the nearby Zvernec Lagoon, all promised to Jared Kushner’s company and other joint investors to build luxury resorts,” said Kushova.

Critics have additionally raised questions over the origin of the funds used to purchase the coastal land and the legality of the procedures.

Like many plots of land in Albania, the area is subject to property disputes dating back to the collapse of communism in the 1990s.

What are the allegations about the project’s transparency and governance?

Albania’s special anticorruption prosecutor’s office has opened an investigation into changes to the protected status of the Vjosa-Narta area. They will also investigate how officials were able to bypass the normal system of public tenders for contracts, as well as the origin of the funds used to buy land titles.

While the government insists the land designated for the project is privately owned, some have questioned its privatisation – a common type of legal dispute in Albania.

The lack of transparency surrounding the project is also a key concern for many.

“Environmental organisations have nothing against luxury resorts, but they should be developed with full transparency, in accordance with the legislation, not in protected wetlands, and in consultation with local communities and civil society organisations,” said Kushova.

When the beach in the area was fenced off last week, “there was no announcement, no project, no sign at the construction site – only excavators and construction machinery”, she said.

People wanted to enter because the sea and the sand are public property according to national law, said Kushova.

Kushner’s past ventures for similar projects offer a cautionary tale.

In November, Serbia’s parliament passed a special law to enable a luxury development in Belgrade backed by a Kushner-linked investment firm.

One month later, prosecutors charged four people, including a government minister, with abuse of office and document forgery related to that project.

Kushner subsequently withdrew from the planned investment, which would have replaced a bomb-damaged military complex whose heritage protections had been removed by officials now facing trial.

How much of a political challenge is this for Rama?

Rama has dismissed the protests and accused the media of exaggerating their size and significance.

The prime minister won a fourth term last year, pledging to get the country – which is one of the poorest in Europe – into the European Union by 2030. He has emphasised the importance of attracting investors and has minimised the concerns of environmentalists.

It’s “very important that we remain welcoming, that we remain fair, and that under no circumstances do we receive the stigma of being a country where investors are met with hostility”, Rama said in a statement on Wednesday.

The previous day, the prime minister met with the president of the European Council, Antonio Costa, who praised Albania’s progress towards EU membership but noted that its accession process also depends on meeting EU environmental standards.

“In the accession process, Albania is expected to align its environmental legislation fully with the European acquis [body of law], like in other areas,” Costa said.

Rama, who spoke standing next to Costa, defended the development project for its economic benefits – and was insistent that Albania would meet European environmental protection standards.

“If a tourist pays 2,000 euros ($2,326) a night, then it is the cook, the driver, the fisherman, the farmer, the developer and the local businesses that benefit,” he said.

Kushova challenged that assumption, stating that with many beaches in southern Albania now privatised, the public has lost access to them.

“Meanwhile, residents are often forced to close their guesthouses and gain little benefit from these developments other than employment within the resorts themselves,” she said.

“Luxury tourism can generate revenue and attract foreign investment, but it becomes economically unsound if benefits are concentrated among investors while environmental and social costs are borne by local communities.”

Kushova said that local communities should be the ones empowered, “not wealthy billionaires”.

“To develop sustainable tourism, we need to improve infrastructure and services in every corner of Albania while ensuring that overtourism does not damage our country,” she said, pointing to Italy, Croatia and Greece, which she said are stepping up efforts to protect national parks and islands while directing tourism to designated areas.