Zhupa: Saranda municipality did not seek funding for the city’s cinema; its dignity will be restored after May 9

During a discussion of the National Center for Culture’s budget, Ina Zhupa, chair of the Committee on Culture, Tourism and the Diaspora, raised concerns about the lack of cultural investment in Saranda. She noted that the city’s only cinema has been closed for years.

Zhupa asked why Saranda was not benefiting from programs to renovate and revive cultural spaces. Jonid Jorgji, head of the National Center for Culture, replied that Saranda municipality had not applied for funding.

In response, Zhupa described the municipality as the city’s biggest problem. She said the Democratic Party aims to create a cultural hub in Saranda and that the city’s dignity would be restored after May 9, predicting a Democratic Party victory in the municipality.

According to Zhupa, Saranda municipality shows no interest in cultural life and has kept the city’s only cinema closed for years, while failing even to apply for funding that could change the situation.

She said she raises the lack of support for renovation and revitalization every year. According to Zhupa, Jorgji’s answer was that the municipality had not applied for funding.

Zhupa argued that the obstacle was not a lack of opportunities, but a lack of will and responsibility on the part of Olti Caci and his people in the municipality.

She pledged that the Democratic Party’s program for Saranda municipality includes building a cultural hub to restore the cultural life and spaces the city deserves.

Zhupa said that after May 9, Saranda would regain the dignity she believes it has been denied. She called on residents to use their votes to remove what she described as a model of theft, incompetence and indifference that has held the city back.