The luxury resort that Trump's son-in-law wants to build in Albania, contested by activists. Dozens of NGOs demand the suspension of the project

Jared Kushner's project for a luxury resort on an island in Albania is criticized by dozens of environmental non-governmental organizations from several countries, according to a statement seen by AFP on Saturday.

The US president's son-in-law plans to turn Sazan, an uninhabited island in southwestern Albania that once housed a secret communist military base, into an estimated 1.4 billion euro luxury tourist destination.

A total of 41 environmental groups from 28 countries called for the project to be suspended in a letter to Prime Minister Edi Rama and Albanian Environment Minister Sofjan Jaupaj this week.

“The project proposes interventions on 45 hectares, representing serious risks for the biodiversity and critical habitats of the area,” the organizations claim.

Carp and surrounding waters “provide crucial habitats for some of the world's most endangered marine species,” they said.

The NGOs said the development of a luxury resort “poses a serious threat to these delicate habitats” and called for the “immediate suspension of any decisions advancing the project”.

This week, the daughter of the US president, Ivanka Trump, also visited several places in Vlora, the Albanian region where the island is located, accompanied by about 60 architects.

In December, an investment firm linked to Kushner dropped a plan to build a hotel in Belgrade on a site that had been the headquarters of the former Yugoslav Army General Staff. The project had been suspended since May.

The Serbian culture minister was indicted for abuse of office and forging an official document that allowed the site's “cultural heritage status” to be withdrawn.