Video: “That is why the Socialist Party trusted you…”, the mayor debates with Mazniku: Where will planning permits be issued?

In a live discussion on the Now programme with journalist Erla Mëhilli on Euronews Albania, the mayor of Divjaka, Josif Gorrea, publicly called on the chairman of the Special Committee for Territorial Reform, Arbjan Mazniku, not to vote for the new reform.

Gorrea raised the concern of key services moving towards Lushnja, such as urban planning and the civil registry. Mazniku, for his part, replied that this reform will serve the interests of citizens and that after four years the results will show that the decision was the right one.

Part of the discussion:

Gorrea: Do not vote for the territorial reform, Maznik!

Mazniku: We will meet again in four or five years and you will say: I realised I was wrong.

Gorrea: People have trusted me, that is why they trust me.

Mazniku: That is why the Socialist Party trusted you. There is no problem with us not agreeing, there is no problem with us thinking differently. It is completely normal. You know very well, I have no interest in Divjaka, zero. Also, I am convinced that you are having this discussion and debate driven by what you genuinely believe are the best interests, and it is completely normal for us not to agree. But I tell you, looking you in the eye, with great conviction, that the citizens of Divjaka, the citizens of Prenjas, the citizens of Belsh, Cërrik, the citizens of Fushë-Arrëz and all of them in turn will have their lives made many times better at the end of four years.

We will meet again in four years together and we will agree. Just as life was made better for the citizens of Gradishtë, Rremas, Grabjan and Tërbuf.

Gorrea: Two services! I am giving you two services, Maznik: Where will urban planning go?

Mazniku: Part of it will stay there, part of it will go to the centre.

Gorrea: Where will the urban planning permits be obtained?

Mazniku: Where they are obtained today, the same!

Gorrea: Why is urban planning going to Lushnja then?

Mazniku: So that it can make an urban plan, because you cannot make an urban plan. You have not been able to make an urban plan! Today, in 2024-2025, you do not have an urban planner in the municipality. Do you have an urban planner in the municipality?

Gorrea: Let me give you another service, Maznik, please. Two months ago the civil registry was cut back. So, the civil registry service, until two months ago, was in every unit. It was cut back, it has come to Divjaka. Because the problem today is with the civil registry: You have to go to the office physically in person only for registrations/deregistrations of deaths and registrations/deregistrations of births. These are the only two actions for which you have to go to the civil registry physically. And we have the luxury, you and I, to pay a person to provide a service, to provide one service unit a month?!

Listen, Maznik. Meanwhile, all the other civil registry services are obtained here online.