Construction work on the underground roadway at South Boulevard begins on 5 August. The residents of the Anton Popov 1 complex, around 800 people and some twenty businesses, have to this day not been given sight of the project documentation. They are requesting an urgent meeting with the City of Skopje - and this is not a demand against the project.

"We are not against infrastructure development, but we ask that the process be transparent and that the rights of citizens who will directly feel the consequences of the construction work are respected," their statement says.

What specifically worries them

Two things. The first is access: "We do not have adequate vehicle access for cars, let alone for an emergency response - an ambulance or a fire engine." The second is structural, because, as they say, the digging will go right down to the building's foundations.

From that follow the questions they are putting to the authorities, and they are entirely concrete: has a detailed geotechnical survey been produced, will there be an official record of the building's current condition before work starts, are there guarantees that the excavation will not affect the structure's stability, and who takes responsibility if damage appears.

Not one of those questions is excessive. All four are standard procedure for excavation next to an existing building.

The meeting that was promised and never happened

On 20 July the residents met representatives of the City of Skopje. By their account, the representatives themselves were surprised by the actual situation on the ground - particularly regarding access for emergency vehicles and how close the planned excavation runs to the building.

They were promised an official meeting at which the project and its impact on surrounding buildings would be presented. To date there has been neither an invitation nor an official reply. Work starts in a matter of days.

The strongest sentence in their statement is not emotional but engineering: "Verbal assurances that 'there will be no problem' are not enough. In engineering a guarantee is not a statement, it rests on analyses, designs and expert checks."

Hard to argue with. A geotechnical survey either exists or it does not. A record of the building's condition before work either was made or was not. These are documents, not opinions - which is exactly why it is strange they have not been shown to the people living ten metres from the excavation.

The residents say that if they do not get concrete information they will organise protests together with people from neighbouring buildings. The City of Skopje has a few days left to hold the promised meeting - or at least to send them the documentation. The question is why a request like this had to end up as a public statement at all.