Skopje's mayor Orce Đorđievski admits there have been failures in rubbish collection. And he immediately promises: in about ten days, around 2,500 new containers will arrive, plus new trucks - 60 in total, replacing the previous 16.

The numbers sound good at first. The context is grim. When the capital city of the country has only 16 working bin lorries for a city of over 500,000 residents, that means each truck would have to serve 30,000 citizens a day. That's flat-out impossible - and it's why bins in Aerodrom, Karpoš, Čair and Gazi Baba have been overflowing for months, with rubbish piling up on the streets for days at a stretch.

"The main challenge is the insufficient number of containers at certain locations across the city," the mayor said. That's diplomatic talk for what every Skopjan sees with their own eyes: a handful of bins serving a block of 200 families, filling up in 4 hours and then sitting open and overflowing for the next 48.

Now 2,500 new containers and 44 new trucks are on the way. A significant investment. But the question is: what was happening for the past 7 years? Who was making the procurement decisions on vehicles and bins? And how many party-friendly "consultants" billed advisory fees while Skopje was turning into a dump? The Balkans know this story by heart. And they always pay twice - once for the job that didn't get done, then again to fix it.

For the average Skopjan, the question stays practical: when will I see new containers on my block? And when will the rubbish actually be collected on schedule? That's what the mayor has to answer - not at a press conference, but on the ground. Ten days isn't a long time. We'll see.