Skopje, 22 August 2024 (MIA) - At the next session of the Council of the City of Skopje on August 29, council members will support the employment of around 120 people in the city’s waste disposal enterprise as part of its supplementary work program, as well as funds for the repairs of 30 buses at the public transport enterprises reallocated from another project, the chair of the Council, Trajko Slaveski said on Thursday.

Slaveski spoke to the media after a coordination meeting attended by the whips of the council groups, Skopje Mayor Danela Arsovska and the heads of the enterprises for parks and greenery, waste disposal and public transport.

“At the meeting, the public enterprises stressed they need approval for the procurement of new mechanization, equipment, etc. I remarked that their investment plans were approved by Skopje’s City Council at the beginning of the year, as well as in previous years, which raises the question of what have they been doing, considering they are now telling us that their vehicles and equipment are on average older than 20-30 years,” Slaveski said.

Regarding the public transport in Skopje, Slaveski said at Monday’s meeting in the Government it was concluded that new buses cannot be procured in the short term to increase the enterprise’s fleet, but also that a significant part of the bus fleet is non-functional. He said the Government voiced readiness to reallocate unused funds intended for an infrastructure project in Skopje to repair a certain number of non-functional buses before the new school year begins.

“According to the assessment by the director [of the public transport enterprise] as many as 30 buses could be repaired and put back into service if this agreement over the reallocation of funds from the Government happens and with the beginning of repayment of the EUR 8 million loan to the public transport enterprise that the previous Government created,” Slaveski said.

Slaveski voiced expectations that the city’s public transport will function as of September 1 “but not as optimally as we would like it to”. 

Photo: MIA