The head of the Association of Tour Operators, Zak Topuzi, has raised the alarm about the parking situation in the capital, describing it as a growing social crisis that is directly weighing on citizens.
According to Topuz, the Municipality of Tirana is removing parking on the ring road and main roads to replace them with lanes for buses, taxis and bicycles. He emphasizes that this is a necessary measure to improve urban mobility, but the problem lies in the total lack of real alternatives for parking.
“Today, a parking space in Tirana sells for between 40 and 80 thousand euros, while monthly rents range from 80 to 150 euros. These are unaffordable figures for real wages in Albania,” Topuzi declares. He adds that public parking lots have high fees, while fines for incorrect parking have reached their peak, turning parking into a financial burden for families.
In his reaction, Topuzi also criticizes the opposition, which according to him is focused only on the debate about grand corruption and is not dealing with the daily problems that directly affect the citizen. "By not turning these problems into real causes, the opposition has distanced itself from its base," he says.
The head of the Association of Tour Operators proposes several concrete solutions that can also be applied in Tirana, such as the construction of public multi-storey parking lots on municipal property, the establishment of subsidized monthly fees for low-income residents, the creation of "Park & Ride" parking lots at the entrance to the city combined with public transport, and the conversion of vacant construction sites into multi-storey parking lots, even if only temporarily, through fiscal incentives for builders.
"You cannot punish citizens only with fines, without giving them an alternative," emphasizes Topuzi, underlining that parking is not a luxury, but an urban necessity for a functional and livable city.
