Skopje residents have called it "the meadow" for years. The lawn on Macedonia Square is finally being landscaped - but the story does not start today. It starts with the bill from the previous mayoral term.

Mayor Orce Gjorgjievski announced on social media that full horticultural landscaping of the space and the planting of new greenery are under way.

"The neglected area on Macedonia Square, which citizens have called 'the meadow' for years, is finally getting a new and dignified appearance," he wrote, saying the space would become "a small green oasis".

Badly damaged paving tiles along the path near the Macedonia Gate have also been replaced, and the repair of the remaining damaged sections continues next week. Renovation of the ground fountain is under way as well.

"Soon this entire space will once again be a tidy, modern and attractive whole, a real showcase for Skopje," Gjorgjievski said.

The second landscaping of the same patch

This is where it is worth pausing. The lawn being landscaped now is the same one that was already landscaped once - during the term of Petre Silegov.

According to the media outlets that raised the issue, around 500,000 euros were spent at the time on that lawn and a dozen trees, while the material value of the work is estimated at 15,000 to 17,000 euros. These are claims made in public, not a sum established by an official audit - but the gap between the two figures is large enough to demand an answer rather than a denial.

If one landscaping of the same patch lasted only a few years before a second was needed, the question is not whether the new one will look better. The question is why the first one did not last, and whether anyone ever checked the difference between what was paid for and what was installed.

The second landscaping will be photographed and published, just like the first. An audit of the first one - probably not.