Unexploded ordnance puts Jared Kushner's resort in Albania at risk

2026-05-15 11:04:00, Denoncim Besar Likmeta

The government has cleared the way for the construction of a resort on Sazan Island, but beneath its crystal clear waters and along its rocky shores lie tons of unexploded ordnance.

On the western side of Sazan Island, where the waves crash against the steep cliffs, there is an area that the sea people have christened the "Groka e Jhehenemit" or the gate to hell.

On the surface, the transparent waters offer a fairytale, almost idyllic view of the Mediterranean, exactly the kind of natural beauty thought to attract the world's tourism elite. But if you dive just 5 to 30 meters deep, the postcard-perfect landscape turns into a war scene frozen in time.

There, in a 5,000-meter sea area, 200-millimeter artillery shells from World War II, anti-submarine mines, and tons of explosives ready to explode rest silently among the marine flora.

Official documents from the General Staff of the Armed Forces and testimonies from island experts say that similar “minefields” are found on almost every side of the island. Unexploded ordnance has not stopped plans by the government and foreign investors to build a resort and tourist port on Sazan.

At the end of 2024, the government of Prime Minister Edi Rama granted the status of “Strategic Investor” to the company Atlantic Incubation Partners LLC, linked to Jared Kushner, the son-in-law of US President Donald Trump. The promised investment, in which the Albanian state is a partner, after making property and other facilities available, is worth 1.4 billion euros. In addition to Kushner, who made the idea public, billionaires from Qatar are now also involved in the project.

The plans, which still remain theoretical and only on paper, changed again at the end of last year when the Strategic Investment Committee, KIS, extended the deadlines for the project, which envisages the transformation of 45 hectares of the island into a network of luxury villas and resorts, and increased the benefits for the investor.

Thus, to enable this investment, the Albanian government made new legislative concessions. In addition to the previously debated changes to the law on “Protected Areas” in violation of European Union recommendations, exclusive changes were adopted to the law on tourist ports to allow non-competitive contracts for strategic investors. Above all, the SIC now tasks the Ministry of Defense with clearing the island and the sea around it of unexploded ordnance.

But while the government has rolled out the legislative red carpet on the surface, underwater reality remains stubborn.

Data from the General Staff of the Armed Forces, in response to a right-to-information request by BIRN, and testimonies from naval experts, fishermen and biologists reveal that Sazan and the waters are a minefield. Dismantling this legacy, which can be deadly, requires huge expenses, specialized divers, and a major clean-up operation.

Artur Meçollari, a former senior naval officer and navy expert, emphasizes that the presence of munitions makes the island dangerous for civilians and tourists, which, according to him, calls into question the entire plan for tourism development, as the latter relies on people's freedom to move, swim, and navigate safely in the surrounding waters.

“The problem is: once you do the construction, are the tourists safe?” he asks. “The moment you clear only the area where it will be built, the rest is a problem for the future,” Meçollari added.

Four danger zones at sea

Sazan Island served as a naval military base during the communist regime and is still administered by the Ministry of Defense. To pave the way for obtaining strategic investor status, the President of the Republic, Bajram Begaj, previously urgently signed a decree to exclude a training area from the Armed Forces deployment plan.

However, the island's centuries-old legacy as a military zone has left its mark.

“On the island of Sazan and in the waters surrounding it, despite the work carried out to identify and clear unexploded ordnance… there is the possibility and risk of the presence of unexploded ordnance on the land territory, the coastline, as well as the marine waters surrounding the island,” the General Staff of the Armed Forces wrote in a response to BIRN.

The General Staff writes that it has identified four areas with a massive presence of unexploded ordnance in the marine waters surrounding the island.

According to the SHPFA, several military clearance operations were carried out in three of these areas between 2013 and 2015, but the amount of explosives remains frightening. In Area 3 alone, in the northeast of the island, which is considered the most contaminated, about 30 tons of ammunition of various calibers were removed and demolished.

"In this area, ammunition of various calibers and gunpowder were found, distributed over an area of ??approximately 7,000 m² with and without a landfill. In this area, approximately 30 tons of ammunition of various calibers were extracted and demolished," the response states.

In the other areas, 1 and 2, where several thousand square meters of contamination were also identified. The headquarters does not mention the amount of ammunition recovered from the sea, but is careful to say that there may still be ammunition present there.

"Despite the operations carried out to clear areas 1, 2 and 3, there is a possibility that sea currents have discovered and moved other unexploded munitions, which during the period of the operations may have been covered by sand and seabed sediments," the response states, emphasizing that even in these areas where intervention has been made, there is a possibility that there may be unexploded munitions.

However, according to SHPFA, the main problem comes from the fourth zone or "The Throat of Hell".

Ministry of Defense data shows that in this area west of Sazan, in an area of ??5,000 square meters and at a depth of 5 to 30 meters, there is the presence of unexploded ordnance.

"No cleanup operations have been carried out in this area," the Headquarters emphasizes.

This situation is confirmed on the ground by fishermen and other visitors to the area.

A 60-year-old diver, who asked to remain anonymous, recounts that the depths of Sazan remain an open weapons depot and that partial military operations often fail to withstand the force of nature.

"The sea is difficult to clean," he says. "There was an operation, but the sea produces new ones, it's not easy to clean."

He testifies that precisely in the "Grove of Hell", where he was diving for octopuses, he saw with his own eyes over 50 Italian artillery shells of 200 millimeters caliber.

The fisherman says he knows these weapons well, having served in the navy from 1985 to 1987, specifically on minesweeper ships for clearing naval mines.

"Near the beach, the area known as Sazan Beach, there are anti-submarine mines. There are also large shells," he says, recalling his years of service in the navy.

“We didn't dive for ammunition, so I can't tell you how much, but it's a lot,” the former sailor adds.

According to him, the danger posed by these weapons is silent, but potentially deadly.

"These, especially anti-submarine mines, theoretically have their detonating mechanisms disabled, but the explosive remains there. If you don't disturb them, there's no danger. But if they're touched or moved, the consequences can be fatal," he said.

High demining costs

Plans for Sazan Island and its transformation into a 'tourist paradise' are not new.

The abandoned former military base has often become the object of multibillion-dollar dreams in Albania, including the establishment of a casino there or other forms of exploitation.

In response to BIRN, neither the SHPFA nor the Ministry of Defense answered the question of how much the land and sea cleanup operation of Sazan would cost.

"During 2025, the Armed Forces conducted reconnaissance to assess the terrain and calculate the necessary assets and intervention methods to carry out operations to clear the island's territory of unexploded ordnance," said the SHPFA.

But while the Headquarters expresses itself in cautious bureaucratic language, experts paint a much more dramatic picture of the situation that awaits investors and the state.

For Artur Meçollari, the impasse is not simply technical, but above all financial and logistical.

“The problem is not that we can't do it, but it would cost a lot of money and it's not known where they will be dismantled,” he said. “That's the big problem, because to clean there, the ammunition has to be taken to the range, you'll put it somewhere else,” Meçollari added.

He recalls previous Navy operations, especially around 1999-2002, where 37 tons of ammunition were removed from clearly identified areas.

“The fleet paid for it, they did the operation,” he recalled. “It took 1 month, 60 people engaged just for this, including 4-5 divers for depths up to 10 meters,” he explained.

According to him, underwater explosive ordnance disposal (EOD) operations are extremely complex, while the Armed Forces face a lack of human capacity to carry them out.

"It requires a very large time commitment, specialized pigeon capacities are needed," said Meçollari, adding that the post-cleaning control operation is the most complex step.

According to Meçollari, the munitions in Sazan do not endanger port operations or large shipping, but the equation changes completely when the area turns into a tourist village.

Simo Ribaj, a biologist who often conducts diving expeditions in the area to study flora and fauna, also testifies to the danger posed by unexploded ordnance in Sazan, while saying that visitors are often frightened by these piles of explosives.

However, according to him, the danger is not limited to underwater.

"While it was very bad on the island, 10-15 years ago, it was cleaned up, but the presence is there, because they are covered and uncovered and are potentially dangerous," he says.

According to him, the island needs to be inspected with specialized equipment, as many of the munitions may have been covered by time, but could be discovered by erosion or new excavations.

"The ones in the sea are more stable, they are easier to find than the ones on land," he emphasizes, confirming that he saw them in the sea a year ago.

The presence of ammunition calls into question plans for beaches and elite tourists. Ribaj testifies that he has seen shells almost all around the perimeter of the island, but also near the port, emphasizing that cleaning such difficult underwater terrain "requires a lot of work to get them right" and that this process "is only done by experts in the field."

For the biologist, the presence of these remnants of war is incompatible with the hospitality industry and human flows.

"They are absolutely dangerous and this does not go well with tourism," he concluded./ Reporter.al