In a slickly produced podcast interview printed this week, Ivanka Trump talked about her newest real-estate undertaking — what she described as an “unbelievable, beautiful 1,400-hectare private island in the middle of the Mediterranean” plus 5 stunning miles of Albanian beachfront supposed to change into resorts and motels.
But the undertaking backed by the US president’s daughter and son-in-law Jared Kushner contains deliberate growth of a protected pure space alongside the coast throughout from the island, which conservation teams say has already broken the attractive space Trump was praising.
The luxury enterprise has sparked massive avenue protests within the capital, Tirana, the place demonstrators carried pink cardboard cutouts of the flamingos whose habitat they are saying is being threatened, and a broader backlash from residents in Albania, which has one of many lowest rates of GDP per capita in Europe.
The Europe director for environmental charity BirdLife, Ariel Brunner, mentioned he and different conservationists visited the character website in early May, the place they noticed excavators digging up the seaside and vans laying gravel. “There was no sign whatsoever, neither by the lagoon where they were cutting the road, nor on the beach where the machinery was working … of any kind of license or permits or even just declaration of who they were.”
Albania’s prime minister has insisted that the undertaking has but to start and that work is underway concerning its setting influence, as he continues to champion growth of the nation’s Adriatic coast.
An aerial view of the Pishë Poro-Narta protected panorama. – PPNEA
What we all know concerning the undertaking to date
The first part of the undertaking — the uninhabited Sazan Island — is a former communist-era army base.
“We were on a friend’s boat, and we stopped for a swim, effectively, that’s how we found it. We swam to the islands, we went on a hike barefoot all the way up to the top, and we were just captivated,” Trump advised US-based podcaster David Senra earlier this week, bringing the undertaking to the eye of many in Albania and past.
The second website, an undeveloped stretch of seaside known as Pishë Poro-Narta, sits inside a protected nature space, the Vjosa–Narta Protected Landscape. It’s house to endangered species equivalent to monk seals, nesting sea turtles and greater than 200 chicken species, together with flamingos and pelicans.
A photograph offered by the conservation group PPNEA reveals barbed wire fences erected on the website of the the Pishë Poro-Narta protected panorama. – PPNEA
NCS reached out to Jared Kushner’s personal fairness fund concerning the undertaking however was redirected to a totally different firm, Sazan Real Estate Development LLC, and advised that buyers are concerned of their private capability.
“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. Our focus remains on responsible stewardship, environmental enhancement, job creation, and creating long-term value for local communities,” Asher Abehsera, chairman of Sazan Real Estate Development LLC, mentioned in a assertion. “We respect the ongoing public and institutional processes, and we stand ready to move forward as they unfold.”
Kushner advised an funding summit final 12 months that whereas he was crusing off the coast of Albania in 2021, Prime Minister Edi Rama got here onto the boat for a assembly, and a 12 months later they mentioned funding alternatives. In 2024, Kushner posted concept art for the Albanian coast undertaking on social media.
Protesters participate in a demonstration in Tirana, demanding transparency across the deliberate luxury resort undertaking backed by Ivanka Trump. – AFP/Getty Images
Critics have repeatedly raised concerns about Kushner’s private business dealings presenting a battle of curiosity, given he now serves as a particular envoy of his father-in-law, President Donald Trump. He has acquired significant backing from sovereign wealth funds of nations with which he additionally conducts official authorities enterprise, together with Saudi Arabia and Qatar.
On Wednesday, Rama confirmed that Kushner and Ivanka Trump are concerned within the enterprise however mentioned it contains a broader group of buyers and architects from Japan, Denmark, Turkey, Greece and France.
Rama additionally claimed that “there is not a project yet,” and “the environmental impact is being worked on,” when requested by NCS’s Isa Soares whether or not real-estate growth on the island and nature reserve is ongoing.
Protesters conflict with police throughout a demonstration in entrance of the prime minister’s workplace, in opposition to the development of a luxury resort close to a protected pure space, in Tirana on June 3, 2026. – AFP/Getty Images
“There is not such a thing like the family of the American president taking over protected areas where flamingos will be, will be killed by them,” Rama mentioned, including that the builders’ group has employed a consulting agency to look into the environmental influence.
The prime minister insisted the undertaking won’t “pour concrete on the head of flamingos,” however relatively show that growth and nature “can coexist.”
Controversial change to nature legal guidelines
Part of the backlash in Albania surrounds a change to the nation’s nature legal guidelines to allow luxury resort development inside environmentally protected areas, applied in 2024. The legislation now exempts “structures of excellence, 5 stars or more” and associated hospitality actions.
“Usually, the fact that rich people can get away with what they want to do is something that you hide under a kind of language of public interest, extraordinary situations, and so on. Actually writing in the law that luxury resorts are exempt is quite remarkable,” mentioned BirdLife’s Brunner. “This is one of the most brutal legislative texts I’ve seen in the environmental field in my career.”
Protesters exhibit in opposition to the deliberate growth of the land, with indicators displaying pink flamingos whose habitat they are saying is being threatened. – PPNEA
Protesters from PPNEA and different wildflife conservation teams exhibit on the protected pure space, outdoors newly erected fences. – PPNEA
The authorized change does not jibe with European Union law, which has been a sticking level as Albania undertakes talks to hitch the EU.
“We have already expressed our concerns to the minister of the environment about the potential shortcomings of this project,” a European Commission spokesperson advised NCS concerning the event within the Pishë Poro-Narta protected panorama. “Our concerns are not new. … (Albania’s) repeated extension of the law on strategic investments continues to raise concerns about possible environmental impacts, particularly in protected areas.”
Nature conservation teams say they imagine the Albanian authorities intends to push this growth and different smaller tasks via earlier than altering nature legal guidelines again to adjust to EU laws.
The European Commission spokesperson advised NCS that Albania’s Environment Ministry had “committed that the construction works have been suspended.”
The European Commission additionally highlighted an investigation by Albania’s Special Structure Against Corruption and Organized Crime, a prosecution workplace often known as SPAK. Local media have reported on the probe, and a European Commission spokesperson mentioned the inquiries “reportedly extend beyond environmental concerns.”
However, requested about plans to construct within the Pishë Poro-Narta protected space, a spokesperson for SPAK advised NCS that “it has no open investigation concerning any project associated with Mr. Jared Kushner.” The spokesperson mentioned that “SPAK has initiated a separate investigation; however, that matter is unrelated,” and declined to offer additional data.
NCS has reached out to Albania’s Ministry of Environment and its National Agency of Protected Areas for remark.
What protesters are saying
Conservationists and strange residents have been railing in opposition to the undertaking for weeks, asking to see permits and calling on lawmakers to assist defend the wild shoreline.
“The project is quite destructive, since it’s actually planned to be built within a protected area, within a protected landscape, which is actually one of the most intact wetlands in the Mediterranean,” Melitjan Nezaj, an environmental biologist on the Albanian group Protection and Preservation of Natural Environment in Albania (PPNEA), advised NCS. “As we speak now, there are no permissions publicly available.”
A photograph offered by the conservation group PPNEA reveals what it says is figure already carried out on the website, together with heavy equipment digging up the seaside and vans laying gravel. – PPNEA
PPNEA mentioned in a statement that a few of the ecological harm to sand dunes is “already irreversible,” and that development has “blocked one of the two openings connecting the Narta Lagoon to the sea, cutting off tidal exchange with immediate, cascading consequences for fish, birds, and the entire food chain.”
Protesters have demonstrated on the protected space — outdoors newly constructed fences — carrying indicators that includes pink flamingos and loggerhead sea turtles. Environmental teams have additionally documented heavy equipment on the seaside, a drill positioned on a hill and patrolling safety guards, though it’s unclear if these are related to the Kushner-backed growth.
Large protests additionally came about on a number of days this week within the capital, the place residents chanted that “Albania is not for sale.”
BirdLife advised NCS that it’s not against all growth of the shoreline, arguing that different areas with deserted buildings or earlier city growth can be good candidates for revitalization.
“Some types of nature can coexist with some types of development; transforming an entire island and river delta into a de-facto city cannot,” Brunner mentioned. “If you physically remove the habitat, anything that lives in that habitat will disappear.”
A photograph offered by the conservation group PPNEA reveals heavy equipment on Narta seaside on the coast of Albania. – PPNEA
Because environmental teams and the media haven’t seen permits or planning paperwork for the undertaking, it’s exhausting to know precisely what number of buildings are deliberate and on which elements of the protected space. But in her podcast interview, Ivanka Trump emphasised the undertaking’s large scale.
“We’ll have hotels and resorts and wellness, all of it — it’s almost daunting in its size,” she mentioned, later including that “community” was on the coronary heart of it. “You can’t just, like, impose yourself upon a country or culture — you have to understand it first to do it in a beautiful and delicate and meaningful way.”
NCS’s Vasco Cotovio, Isa Soares and Olivia Briand contributed to this report.
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