Qatar-based Urbacon Trading and Contracting, one of the largest construction companies in the Arab world, has entered Albania in connection with the planned Zvërnec resort, a major tourism project that has triggered local protests, property disputes and questions over transparency.
Albanian outlet Kapitali reported that Urbacon, owned by Qatari businessman Moutaz Al-Khayyat, will be involved in the resort project. It remains unclear whether the company will act as a construction subcontractor or enter the project as a shareholder.
Urbacon recently registered a branch in Albania, according to the report. The company is part of Power International Holding, a group owned by Al-Khayyat, and has been involved in major projects including artificial islands in Lusail and the Waldorf Astoria complex in the Maldives. Urbacon reported annual turnover of about $1.5 billion and was ranked in 2024 among the world’s largest subcontractors.
The Zvërnec project was initially linked in media reports to Jared Kushner, son-in-law of U.S. President Donald Trump, and Ivanka Trump. Later reports said Kushner had shifted his focus to a separate project on Sazan island, while the Zvërnec development proceeded through other corporate structures.
Two months ago, Albania’s National Council of Territory and Water approved a construction permit for the resort on behalf of Zvërnec South Adriatic Development sh.p.k. The company is owned by Universal Properties Projects BV, registered in the Netherlands.
Investigations by BIRN have raised questions about the project’s ownership structure, saying the company is linked to a chain of offshore entities and that the beneficial owners are not publicly known. BIRN reported that the project involves local companies and individuals connected to unresolved property disputes, past criminal proceedings and politically connected business circles.
The project site includes land in the Zvërnec and Narta area, near one of Albania’s most sensitive coastal ecosystems. The area forms part of the Vjosa-Narta protected landscape, known for its lagoon, migratory birds and coastal dunes.
Local residents and environmental activists have protested against the fencing of the Pishë Poro beach area, saying the project restricts access to land and coastline they claim as ancestral or community property. Some of the land linked to the project remains the subject of long-running court disputes.
The controversy intensified after private security guards clashed with protesters in Zvërnec. Footage circulated in Albanian media showed a protester being struck and dragged away. Police later arrested private guard Gerald Biba and opened disciplinary proceedings into the local police chain of command in Vlora.
Prime Minister Edi Rama said he would speak on Monday about what he called an “extraordinary project” for Albania, dismissing what he described as false claims circulating about it. He praised the State Police leadership for acting against both the private guards and local police officials.
Interior Minister Besfort Lamallari said the land involved was private property and denied that the government had donated public land to investors. But he condemned the conduct of the private guards as “scandalous and unacceptable,” saying private security personnel had no right to use force against citizens.
Three Socialist Party lawmakers, Erion Braçe, Ardit Bido and Briseida Çakërri, also condemned the violence. Braçe accused police in Vlora of failing to guarantee a peaceful protest, Bido called for the security company’s licence to be revoked if legal violations are confirmed, and Çakërri said public order could not be delegated to private actors.
The case has now widened from a local protest into a broader test of Albania’s tourism development model, where foreign investment, offshore ownership structures, protected coastal areas and unresolved property claims increasingly collide.