The Socialist Party, the victor of the June 23 elections, has launched a new website on which citizens are urged to report illegal constructions – a seriously blight across the country.

The new website called, “Stop Destruction”, calls on citizens to use smart phones and the web to report new illegal builds.

“Use your cell phone as an irreplaceable weapon against destruction,” Albania’s Prime Minister-elect, Edi Rama, said on Twitter. “Illegal builds can only be stopped together,” he added.

The new Socialist-led government wants to crack down on illicit building, while speeding up the legalisation process, although excluding constructions on the coast or in national parks.

Over the past two decades, hundreds of thousands of buildings have been erected in Albania without construction permits.

In 2006, Albania adopted a law aimed at legalising the estimated 220,000 unauthorised buildings across the country.

However, the legalisation process has run into the sand, because since the law entered into force, thousands of new buildings without planning permission have been built.

According to a World Bank report published in 2012, since the law was passed in 2006, some 80,000 new illegal dwellings have gone up; the number could be as high as 120,000.

In the last few months, the municipality of Tirana has faced accusations of turning a blind eye to illegal constructions.

However, the city mayor, Lulzim Basha, has called criticism of the municipality politically motivated. The mayor is chairman of the centre-right Democratic Party, which lost power nationally in the recent general election. balkaninsight