Skopje mayor Orce Ǵorǵievski says the interchange at Momin Potok will be finished by New Year. Seventy-five percent of the construction work is done, and expropriation is one hundred percent complete - every affected citizen has been compensated.

The project is concrete enough: around two kilometres of retaining walls, five bridges, a new 43.5-metre bridge over the Serava river currently under construction, cycling and pedestrian paths with underpasses. The government allocated 60 million denars for the interchange. Construction started in July 2021.

So: five years. That is the context every New Year promise has to carry with it.

Ǵorǵievski says that when he took office seven months ago the project was completely stalled - the processes were blocked and expropriation stood at just ten percent. Going from ten to a hundred percent in seven months is a concrete result and deserves to be stated as such.

What only gets checked after the ribbon is cut

The cycling group „On Wheels” responded with the hope that the cycling and pedestrian infrastructure will be built to real standards, recalling that on previous projects the paths were often poor quality. They also flagged the possibility that this link could become the first cross-border cycling route between Macedonia and Kosovo.

That remark is worth more than any political argument around the project. A cycle path that exists on a drawing but in practice dead-ends at a kerb or breaks off at a bus stop is money spent, not infrastructure.

By the end of the year, the City of Skopje says, the widened bridge over the Serava should also be finished, along with the bridge at Ljubljanska. Work continues on Boris Trajkovski boulevard, and August brings the start of construction on a bridge linking Gazi Baba and Aerodrom. Electric buses, utility trucks, tankers and street sweepers have also been announced, with the tender procedures completed.

Prime Minister Mickoski congratulated the mayor on progress with projects that had previously stalled.

Skopje has a long tradition of announcements that turn into the next announcement. This time there is a figure - 75 percent - and there is a deadline. Both are verifiable on 1 January, without a press conference.