Čair is getting a school swimming pool worth around a million euros: the mayor says "soon", but there's no date

Pupils at the "7 Mart" primary school in Čair, a Skopje municipality, are getting their own swimming pool. Mayor Izet Medžiti, who is also co-leader of the VLEN coalition, toured the construction site yesterday and announced that the project is in its final phase, work is going to plan and the opening is expected "soon". The investment is worth around one million euros.

A school pool in a densely populated part of Skopje is a real gain: children will learn to swim in their own school. That is the kind of investment whole generations of students feel.

The mayor's message, though, was pointed at the ballot box. "We promised this project during the election campaign, we put it in our programme and today we are turning it into reality," Medžiti said, adding that they are delivering their promises "one by one".

What was missing from the tour were the details parents actually care about: an exact opening date, how many swimming lessons a week the students will get, whether children from other schools in the municipality will use the pool too, and who will pay for the water, the heating and the coaches once the ribbon is cut. A million euros is a big sum for one municipality. The real test will be whether the pool is still full of kids after the first photo op.