After years of waiting, the paving of the road leading to the church of Sveti Naum in the village of Orman has been completed. Residents and visitors finally get an orderly and safer approach to the religious site, announced the mayor of Ohrid, Kiril Pecakov.

The funds were provided from the Ohrid municipal budget, under the Programme for the Development of Construction Land. The municipality says it will continue implementing infrastructure projects aimed at balanced development of all settlements.

The phrase that carries the story

The most important part of the whole announcement is four words: after years of waiting. The municipality itself put them there, in its own statement, as a positive element.

And that is the point where the story stops being about one paved road. Paving an access road in a village is not a capital undertaking. It requires no expropriation, no international tender, no study. If it took "years", the reason is not technical.

The church of Sveti Naum in Orman was not built last year. The road to it did not become necessary in recent days. What changed is that somebody finally put it into a programme.

Balanced development, if it is not seasonal

The test for the phrase "balanced development of all settlements" is simple and it is taken in November, not in August. If the next villages in the Ohrid municipality get their own projects outside the pre-election calendar, then the phrase will mean something.

Until then, the residents of Orman have a concrete benefit that depends on nobody's interpretation: a road you can drive down without fearing for your undercarriage. After years of waiting.