Avtokomanda inches towards zone parking: three million denars for signs, and not a word on the price or the rules for residents

Parking in Skopje's Avtokomanda neighbourhood has got so out of hand that residents of one building put up their own barrier on the car park in front of it. Now the institutions have taken a step too: the Council of the Municipality of Gazi Baba approved inter-municipal cooperation with the City of Skopje on traffic signage and traffic-calming measures in the neighbourhood, after the City Council had already voted the same cooperation through.

Mayor Boban Stefkovski says the decision means "we are getting closer to introducing zone parking in the neighbourhood". The work will cost around three million denars and will be fully funded by the City of Skopje. The signs and road markings will be done by the public company "Streets and Roads", while the municipality will provide a revised Basic Traffic Design for changing the traffic regime.

The municipality talks about "more rational use of the available parking spaces" and "a more orderly public space". All very nice. But not one announcement gives a date for when charging starts, what an hour will cost, what the operating hours will be, or - the thing that matters most to the people who live there - on what terms residents will be able to park outside their own building.

Zone parking could fix the chaos in Avtokomanda. It could also just charge for it. The difference will come down to exactly the details nobody is sharing yet - and residents will be right to demand them before the first fine, not after it.