Gjorche Petrov street in Skopje is getting 4 kilometres of new walking paths and green corridors. Reconstruction has started, the mayor Gjorgjievski confirmed, describing it as a "big and comprehensive action".

4 kilometres of new paths - that is a serious length. Green corridors - that is more than decoration. The trees being planted in this phase will be cooling the street for the next 30 years. Walking paths that are not extended in patches - but full, marked, with lighting - that is the difference between "somewhere I can walk" and "I have a right to this street".

For people living along Gjorche Petrov, this is an admission that the street was, until now, undermaintained as infrastructure. Many sections have cracked concrete, low pavements, no trees, and car traffic dominates. The reconstruction fixes those problems.

The question Skopjans should be asking - is this the standard, or the exception? Will Skopje be getting 4 kilometres of walking paths every 5 years, or is this going to be like "Partizanski Pat" - a project that drags on for decades.

For residents of Gjorche Petrov - this is good news. For the rest of the city - a warning that they too have a right to the same paths, the same corridors, the same standards. Skopje cannot be developed only where we happen to have "a mayor who reacts on social media".