TIRANA, Albania – A $4.6 billion luxury coastal development project tied to Jared Kushner, former U.S. President Donald Trump’s son-in-law, and Ivanka Trump has become the center of mounting public outrage and political tension in Albania, pitting the country’s government against environmental activists and anti-corruption campaigners.
Albania’s ruling Socialist government, led by long-time Prime Minister Edi Rama, frames the ambitious initiative as a transformative step toward the country’s core goals: breaking into the global high-end tourism market and advancing its bid for European Union membership. Rama has doubled down on his support for the scheme, insisting it will not be halted during his tenure. “Albania should not be a country that fears an extraordinary project like this one, where exceptional partners have come together to invest 4 billion euros ($4.6 billion),” Rama stated, emphasizing the project’s alignment with Albania’s ambition to establish itself as a top global travel destination.
The development spans two ecologically sensitive sites on Albania’s southern Adriatic coast: a stretch of coastline within the Narta Lagoon Wildlife Reserve, a critical biodiversity hub and migratory bird stopover, and the nearby uninhabited island of Sazan, a former closed communist military outpost. Plans call for the construction of luxury hotels, private villas, residential apartments, and a large marina. According to Ivanka Trump, the pair stumbled upon the location by chance during a leisure trip. “We were on a friend’s boat, and we stopped for a swim. Effectively, that’s how we found it,” she recounted in a recent interview with U.S. podcaster David Senra. “We swam to the island. We went on a hike, barefoot all the way up to the top, and we were just captivated.” Albanian authorities have already granted special investor status to an investment firm connected to Kushner, clearing the way for early construction work. Since late May, heavy machinery including excavators has moved into the protected site, carving access roads, clearing pine forest, grading sand dunes, and erecting boundary fencing. A Kushner-linked investment firm has already received special investor status from Albanian regulators to move the project forward.
But the venture has sparked fierce opposition from environmental groups, local communities, and government critics, who warn the project will cause irreversible damage to one of Albania’s last untouched coastal ecosystems and raise questions about opaque land dealings. For decades under isolationist communist rule, Albania’s 280 miles of Adriatic and Ionian coastline remained largely undeveloped, leaving large swathes of pristine, ecologically rich shoreline intact. Activists argue that this rare unspoiled habitat is now at risk of being exploited by well-connected foreign investors.
Public anger boiled over after video footage emerged showing a private security guard dragging a local environmental activist during an on-site protest, galvanizing larger demonstrations across the country. In the capital Tirana, protesters have held repeated rallies carrying cardboard cutouts of pink flamingos — a protected migratory bird species that relies on the Narta Lagoon as a key stop along its annual route. Environmental organizations from both Albania and across Europe have condemned the construction work, with one leading local advocacy group accusing the government of allowing “irreversible destruction” of long-protected natural habitats.
Compounding the controversy, Albania’s state anti-corruption agency has confirmed it has opened an investigation into irregularities linked to the project, though it has not released public details about the scope of the probe. While the government maintains all land marked for development is now privately owned, competing legal claims have challenged the validity of past privatization deals for the site, a recurring source of legal conflict in the country’s post-communist transition.
The unfolding standoff in Albania also echoes a recent high-profile collapse of a similar Kushner-linked project in neighboring Serbia, which offers a cautionary precedent for the Albanian venture. Last November, Serbia’s parliament passed special legislation to clear the way for a luxury complex on a historic former military site in downtown Belgrade, also backed by a Kushner-affiliated investment firm. Just one month later, Serbia’s organized crime prosecutor charged four individuals — including a sitting government minister — with abuse of office and document forgery to pave the way for the development. Kushner ultimately withdrew from the multi-million project, which would have seen construction on a designated heritage zone after its protected status was improperly lifted by officials now on trial.