Gjorgjievski One Year In: An "Inherited Debt of Almost 300 Million Euros" and Boris Trajkovski Boulevard by the End of the Year

One year after taking over the City of Skopje, mayor Orce Gjorgjievski presented his annual report. Like every report written by the person being reported on, it is full of records: "the best first quarter in the history of the City of Skopje", followed by "the best second quarter" for delivery of capital projects.

The starting position, according to Gjorgjievski, was an inherited debt of almost 300 million euros and "devastated public enterprises". The city cut its current liabilities by 322.1 million denars, plus another 743 million denars in loans, unpaid expropriations, lost court cases with interest, unpaid subsidies and inherited programme obligations.

Across the public utilities, liabilities were cut by a total of around 2.6 billion denars: the water and sewage company by 1.66 billion, the public transport company JSP Skopje by 634 million, the municipal sanitation company by 122 million, Parks and Greenery by 114 million, City Parking by 53 million and Streets and Roads by 32 million denars. The Museum of the City of Skopje, which had its electricity cut off last year over unpaid bills, now has zero liabilities according to the mayor, and the Youth Cultural Centre and the "Kočo Racin" cultural centre have been fully cleared of debt.

Promises with deadlines

More important than the numbers about the past are the deadlines for the future, because those can be checked. Boris Trajkovski Boulevard in Kisela Voda, on the stretch from the Pintija substation to the Dračevo roundabout, is supposed to be finished by the end of the year - "and maybe even ahead of schedule" - for the 100,000 residents who have been waiting for it for more than 30 years. Also due by the end of the year is the new bridge over the Vardar in Karpoš, linking Ljubljanska Street with Skupi.

The Momin Potok interchange is also nearly done, Gjorgjievski says. Work is under way to open Macedonia Boulevard, Skopje's first underground road; the route of ASNOM Boulevard through Ćeramidnica is being cleared so the "General Mihajlo Apostolski" bridge can finally be used; and the tender for two prefabricated multi-storey car parks with more than 500 spaces near the Clinical Centre is being finalised.

One detail in the report, however, says a lot about how carefully it was written. It states that the city's information centre KIC "will have zero liabilities by the end of September". The report was published on 27 October. Whether that deadline was met, the text doesn't say.

Skopje is used to boulevards that take decades and bridges that stand with no way onto them - the mayor mentioned both himself. That's why the best report card for this year won't be a speech. It will be 1 January: will anyone actually be driving on Boris Trajkovski Boulevard?