During the meeting with urban planners and architects on the development of Tirana, the mayor Erion Veliaj also emphasized two of the newest projects, which coincide with the year of the European City of Sports: the new stadium "Selman Stermasi" and the new Sports Palace "Aslan Russia".
"Today I want to announce that we want to start work on the new Sports Palace. It's a hangar - I'm sure there will be hysteria there too, but please help me get in front of everyone and tell them: Wait, it's a hangar, it used to be the place where the planes used to hang out in Italy . In the difficult years of communism, it was adapted as a sports arena, but today it is completely degraded. Now we are the European City of Sports, we cannot play in the hangar in 2023", he said.
Veliaj added that the same thing will happen with the "Selman Stermasi" stadium.
"There we want to create another space similar to the National Arena, where Marko Casamonti's philosophy was not to have a stadium with some services; so, a space that is only used once a week. On the contrary, to have a space that is used 24/7 by businesses, by the Tumo Center, by the company 'Lufthansa Industry Solutions', by restaurants, bars with radio, with televisions, with portals; that is, all kinds of industries, which operate there, plus a green field where football is played. I believe this philosophy has been a great example in the city. I believe that that area is one of the most attractive areas of Tirana, where today we have a 'dead' space, which comes alive only once a week with a match and only for the community of sports fans, not for other communities", argued the mayor.
