An Illegal Dump in Karpos Becomes a 72,000-Square-Metre Mega-Park: New "Lungs" for Polluted Skopje

A space that had for years been turned into an illegal dump in the Karpos municipality should soon become new greenery - the City of Skopje has announced the construction of a 72,000-square-metre mega-park, which the mayor called "new lungs" for the city.

Mayor Orce Djordjievski announced that the project on the Karpos site is getting under way; the site, as he pointed out, had for years been neglected and left uncared for. Instead of rubbish and an illegal dump, those 72,000 square metres are planned to hold a landscaped park open to the public.

The idea is good and needed - Skopje is among the most polluted cities in Europe in the winter months, and every new park is literally one more breath. But experience teaches that between the announcement and the ribbon-cutting there is often a long road, full of delays and financing problems. Announcements about greenery are easy; what counts is when citizens can actually walk through a finished park.

Turning an illegal dump into a park is also a symbolic victory - a place that was an example of neglect becomes an example of care. Whether the promise will be kept on schedule, or become yet another project that hangs for years, time will tell. Until then, 72,000 square metres of hope are inscribed on the map of Skopje - it remains to be seen whether they'll be inscribed in reality too.