Jared Kushner is eying the last remaining wild river in Europe for a development project that would wreck the region's delicate ecosystem, according to a report.
Former President Donald Trump's son-in-law is partially bankrolling a company that's planning a series of massive coastal tourist developments, including hotels, luxury villas and a new international airport on the largely unspoiled Vjosë River delta in Albania, home of one of the most vital sites for biodiversity in Europe, reported Yale Environment 360.
“These developments are highly alarming, and we are strongly concerned about losing the last natural coastal areas in the Mediterranean,” said Annette Spangenberg, head of conservation at the Germany-based organization EuroNatur.
Kushner confirmed last month that he was pursuing major deals on projects involving land controlled by the governments of Serbia and Albania, putting him into business dealings with foreign states, through his investment firm Affinity Partners, which has $2 billion in funding from Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund and other foreign investors.
“We are very excited,” Kushner told the New York Times. “We have not finalized these deals, so they might not happen, but we have been working hard and are pretty close.”
ALSO READ: No, Donald Trump, fraud is not protected by the First Amendment
The Vjosë is considered Europe's last undammed river outside Russia and flows 170 miles from the Pindus mountains in Greece through remote Albanian highlands before spreading across a 59,000-acre delta into the Adriatic Sea. The area is home to rare Dalmatian pelicans, the endangered Albanian water frog and loggerhead turtles.
“This jewel is at risk of being lost forever,” warned global conservation group Birdlife International.
The river has gone undammed due to an international campaign that recently stopped the Albanian government from building hydroelectric dams, and while the newly established Vjosë Wild River National Park placed the area out of reach from development, that protection covers only the stream and not the delta.
The delta is one of the few deltas around the Mediterranean Sea that has not been at least partially spoiled, and it plays a crucial role in the survival of European water birds and other wildlife, and ecologist Zydjon Vorpsi said Kushner's development would “transform the area, resulting in complete urbanization of the delta.”
“Vjosë-Nartë is one of the most vital sites for biodiversity, not only within Albania but across Europe,” said Aleksandër Trajçe, executive director of the Protection and Preservation of Natural Environment in Albania (PPNEA).