Kichevo's Mayor Presented a Report, VMRO-DPMNE Retold It: Over 470 Million Denars in New Investment Is, for Now, a Plan

Kichevo Mayor Aleksandar Jovanovski presented his ten-month report at a press conference, covering his work since taking office in November 2025. A day later, almost identical content arrived as a VMRO-DPMNE press release. When a municipal report and a party statement read the same, it's hard to tell where governing ends and campaigning begins.

The list is long and concrete. Local roads to Srbica, Vraneshtica, Greshnica, Kolibari and Crvivci have been rebuilt, as has the road to the Holy Mother of God Prechista monastery, four kilometres long and worth 34 million denars. City streets have been repaired, car parks, children's playgrounds and sports fields built, energy efficiency investments in schools completed, and a 4D ultrasound machine bought for the General Hospital.

The most interesting part of the report is the spending figures. Student transport cost 42 million denars in 2024 and 21 million in 2025. For 2026, up to the reporting period, 7,120,000 denars have been paid out. Forced debt collection and enforcement orders cost the municipality 18.5 million denars in 2024 and 17.7 million in 2025. This year the municipality has not hired an outside lawyer, which, according to the mayor, avoids an annual cost of around 650,000 denars.

Those figures raise a question the report doesn't ask out loud: if student transport could cost half in 2025, why did it cost 42 million denars a year earlier? The report doesn't explain whether the amount of transport shrank or the way it is paid for changed. Jovanovski only says the data shows the need to keep a constant eye on costs.

The biggest number is about the future. The mayor announced a new package of capital investments with an indicative value of over 470 million denars, or more than 7.5 million euros: sports fields at the Gorica complex, a new Osoj reservoir with a capacity of 500 cubic metres, a reconstruction of the town square estimated at around 2.5 million euros, smart water meters and new local roads. In urban planning, changes to detailed plans covering around 20 hectares have been initiated, and the sale of around 40 building plots by auction is being prepared.

Indicative value means the money hasn't been spent yet and the projects haven't been built. The next report will show how much of the announced 470 million denars became a square and a reservoir, and how much stayed in the press releases.