{"id":77544,"date":"2025-03-31T20:53:39","date_gmt":"2025-03-31T18:53:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/euronews.al\/en\/?p=77544"},"modified":"2025-03-31T21:05:15","modified_gmt":"2025-03-31T19:05:15","slug":"controversy-over-foreign-investments-in-ulcinj-locals-oppose-the-new-dubai","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/euronews.al\/en\/controversy-over-foreign-investments-in-ulcinj-locals-oppose-the-new-dubai\/","title":{"rendered":"Controversy Over Foreign Investments in Ulcinj: Locals Oppose the \u201cNew Dubai\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"\" data-start=\"83\" data-end=\"224\">The arrival of the Arab company \u201cEagle Hills,\u201d which won the tender to lease most of the beaches in Ulcinj, has stirred debate in Montenegro.<\/p>\n<p class=\"\" data-start=\"226\" data-end=\"509\">This company aims to transform the southernmost Montenegrin city into what they call a \u201cNew Dubai.\u201d While tensions have somewhat eased after local leaseholders were granted control of the beaches for this season, controversies surrounding Ulcinj\u2019s long-term vision remain unresolved.<\/p>\n<p class=\"\" data-start=\"511\" data-end=\"956\">Specifically, draft laws that would transfer coastal zone management to local municipalities have been submitted to parliament by the mayors of coastal towns through their deputies. In a meeting with the Prime Minister, it was agreed that the municipalities would nominate specific projects to be presented to investor Mohamed Alabbar\u2014however, with the understanding that Ulcinj would not accept the current investment proposal for Velika Plaza.<\/p>\n<p class=\"\" data-start=\"958\" data-end=\"1253\">The proposed development project for Ulcinj involves a 99-year lease of Velika Plaza and a $30 billion investment intended to attract Western tourists. But local leaseholders and community leaders in Ulcinj oppose the idea of turning their town into a new Dubai, arguing that it is not a desert.<\/p>\n<p class=\"\" data-start=\"1255\" data-end=\"1409\">One of them, Albert Kastrati, says they welcome investments in Ulcinj\u2019s beaches, but the focus must be on the local population, <em data-start=\"1383\" data-end=\"1400\">Euronews Serbia<\/em> reports.<\/p>\n<p class=\"\" data-start=\"1411\" data-end=\"1653\">\u201cOf course, we are in favor of investments\u2014but not like this. It\u2019s not that we\u2019re entering through the main door, but rather through the side door, and definitely without the agreement of the local community and professional public,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The arrival of the Arab company \u201cEagle Hills,\u201d which won the tender to lease most of the beaches in Ulcinj, has stirred debate in Montenegro. This company aims to transform the southernmost Montenegrin city into what they call a \u201cNew Dubai.\u201d While tensions have somewhat eased after local leaseholders were granted control of the beaches [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":23,"featured_media":77545,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[153,1803],"tags":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v22.7 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Controversy Over Foreign Investments in Ulcinj: Locals Oppose the \u201cNew Dubai\u201d - Euronews Albania<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/euronews.al\/en\/controversy-over-foreign-investments-in-ulcinj-locals-oppose-the-new-dubai\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Controversy Over Foreign Investments in Ulcinj: Locals Oppose the \u201cNew Dubai\u201d - Euronews Albania\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The arrival of the Arab company \u201cEagle Hills,\u201d which won the tender to lease most of the beaches in Ulcinj, has stirred debate in Montenegro. This company aims to transform the southernmost Montenegrin city into what they call a \u201cNew Dubai.\u201d While tensions have somewhat eased after local leaseholders were granted control of the beaches [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/euronews.al\/en\/controversy-over-foreign-investments-in-ulcinj-locals-oppose-the-new-dubai\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Euronews Albania\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/euronews.al\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-03-31T18:53:39+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-03-31T19:05:15+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/euronews.al\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/Ulqini.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"784\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"509\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Nen Si\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@euronewsalbania\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@euronewsalbania\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Nen Si\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/euronews.al\/en\/controversy-over-foreign-investments-in-ulcinj-locals-oppose-the-new-dubai\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/euronews.al\/en\/controversy-over-foreign-investments-in-ulcinj-locals-oppose-the-new-dubai\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Nen Si\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/euronews.al\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/444d280f35e047949b7f0bc08093608f\"},\"headline\":\"Controversy Over Foreign Investments in Ulcinj: Locals Oppose the \u201cNew Dubai\u201d\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-03-31T18:53:39+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-03-31T19:05:15+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/euronews.al\/en\/controversy-over-foreign-investments-in-ulcinj-locals-oppose-the-new-dubai\/\"},\"wordCount\":259,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/euronews.al\/en\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/euronews.al\/en\/controversy-over-foreign-investments-in-ulcinj-locals-oppose-the-new-dubai\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/euronews.al\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/Ulqini.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Albania\",\"Latest news\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/euronews.al\/en\/controversy-over-foreign-investments-in-ulcinj-locals-oppose-the-new-dubai\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/euronews.al\/en\/controversy-over-foreign-investments-in-ulcinj-locals-oppose-the-new-dubai\/\",\"name\":\"Controversy Over Foreign Investments in Ulcinj: Locals Oppose the \u201cNew Dubai\u201d - 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