In the yard of the „Panorama” kindergarten, a branch of the „Kočo Racin” kindergarten, an old retaining wall is being removed and a new one built in its place - 37.26 metres long and 3.6 metres high. The Centar municipality says the wall is 25 years old and will be replaced by a reinforced concrete structure with foundations wider than the previous ones.

The project is worth 5,992,394 denars and is due to be finished within a month.

Twenty-five years above a kindergarten

The two most important words in the entire announcement are „25 years old”. A retaining wall is not decoration - it holds back earth that would otherwise slide. When that wall stands above a kindergarten playground, its condition is not a municipal housekeeping question. It is a safety one.

The statement does not say what condition the old wall was in, or when it was last inspected. It says the new one will have wider foundations than the previous - which is a quiet admission that the previous ones were not enough.

Mayor Goran Gerasimovski placed this investment on a broader list of summer works: a new energy-efficient facade at the „Kiril i Metodij” school, then the sports halls at „Kole Nedelkovski” and „Goce Delčev”, and repairs at the „Dimitar Miladinov” primary school. „This summer too we are investing in educational infrastructure”, he said.

Summer is when municipalities work on schools, because the children are away. That is sensible and that is routine. But there is a difference between a facade and a retaining wall: one is comfort and an electricity bill, the other is structure. When a structure of that importance reaches its 25th year before being replaced, the schedule was dictated by the calendar, not by a risk assessment.

Six million denars for 37 metres of wall is an investment that will never appear on a campaign leaflet. Which is also the best argument that it is real.