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Light Sentences Over Albania Collapsed Building
Tirana | 10 November 2009 |
Collpased building
According to the indictment, construction work on a new building at the base of the hill on 9 November, 2008 - where the apartment block is located - caused the collapse.
The owner of the construction company, Sotiraq Janora was charged with murder, while six other people, among them local officials, were charged with abuse of power.
Janora received a six year prison sentence compared to the 21-year sentence asked for by prosecutors. Five of the indictees recevied prison sentences ranging from two to two years and six months in prison, while two others were found innocent.
Real estate has been booming in Albania for a decade. Price increases have been fueled by strong domestic demand, availability of mortgage loans, fast-flowing remittances from family members working abroad and a strong migratory trend from rural to urban areas.
Nowhere domestically has the economic buoyancy yielded greater change than in the property market, with the construction industry accounting for over 10 per cent of overall economic activity in 2008.
However, the fast pace of growth, coupled with weak state institutions and corruption, has reduced oversight on constriction sites.
The local office of the watchdog group Transparency International stated after the collapse that the incident was the result of lack of regulations and weak enforcement of existing rules in the construction industry because of corruption.
The local media reported that the inhabitants of the collapsed building had continually complained about the construction and had even filed a law suit against the developers of the new building.
