The winner of the project of the Multifunctional Center of the Vjosa National Park is announced today
2023-12-06 11:28:44
TiranaPost
The winning architectural studio of the International Design Competition for the creation of the "Multifunctional Center and Information Stations" of the Wild River Vjosa National Park is announced today. Among the three finalist presentations selected from 16 participating studios, the competition jury, consisting of Prime Minister Edi Rama, Minister of Tourism and Environment Mirela Kumbaro, CEO Patagonia, Ryan Gellert and national and international experts will select the winning project.
At the opening ceremony of the presentation of the 3 finalist projects, Minister Kumbaro recalled the long road taken to reach this moment.
"We were together with Prime Minister Rama, when we decided to join forces with Ryan Gellert, the CEO of Patagonia, who has been the undivided fellow traveler in this journey that sometimes resembles a dream that many wanted and few believed in, with the partners of IUCN - the International Union for the Protection of Nature, which today is very worthily represented by one of the internationally recognized names in the expertise of Biodiversity protection, as a member of the jury, James Hardcastle - IUCN, who certified all our voluminous work, with many passionate environmentalists who live dedicated to nature and many other friends I see in this hall", said the minister.
Further, Kumbaro clarified the details regarding the philosophy of the multifunctional center and information stations that will be the gateway to the Vjosa National Park.
"From the 16 participating studios in the competition, today we will follow the three finalist ideas, to choose 1 project and present it to Vjosa, tourists and generations. To build a Gate for the National Park, which will take the silhouette of a modern visitor center, starting point of the journey of many tourists from where they will receive information about the values of the Park, hiking trails, tours, places to sleep and so on, but also where the extraordinary values of this natural laboratory will be shown with 257 species of birds, 70 species of mammals, 150 species of insects, 60 species of molluscs, 31 species of reptiles, you can imagine this living natural museum", said Minister Kumbaro at the opening ceremony of the event.
This competition concludes the "year of Vjosa" as 2023 was announced by the Ministry of Tourism and Environment.
"Vjosa will also be an economic engine of sustainable development, not with heavy artillery, but with tourism that respects nature, with ecotourism, with natural sports, with guesthouses and agrotourism that have started to populate the entire valley from Leskovik and Çarshova and Passing, up to Këlcyrë and Tepelënë, Memaliaj and Fier, Selenica and Vlorë, Gjirokastër, Dropull and Libohovo, filling with pride the people who grew up with the gurgling of its water, to give them all the opportunities to build an economy there, in the roots of their ancestors, and prosper by the river, continuing their lives in peace with it, for which we are already working for the Management Plan", said Kumbaro.
Among other things, during her speech, Minister Kumbaro said that Vjosa was the impetus, or the godmother, of Albania's membership in the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). Albania's membership in this union, after it has been approved in the government meeting and discussed in the Foreign Policy Committee, will go to the Assembly.
