Twelve years of building, and finally an end in sight. The telecommunications tower on Vodno - one of the largest and longest-dragged-out infrastructure projects in Skopje - is entering its final phase. According to the director of the Agency for Electronic Communications, Orce Simov, all construction work is finished and only the administrative procedure for the occupancy permit remains.

"All construction activities are complete, the procedure to obtain the occupancy permit is what's left," Simov wrote. The tower began going up back in 2013 and stands 155 metres tall, making it one of the tallest structures in the country. Its purpose is to monitor and control the radio frequencies used by telecom operators, broadcasters and other systems.

But the detail that will catch the Skopje eye is at the top - a panoramic restaurant with views over the whole city is planned there. Once it's operational, a public call is expected for an operator to run it. Simov also reveals the project has been entered for the World Architecture Festival 2026.

Twelve years for one tower sounds like a long time - because it is. But in a city where projects can sit stuck for decades, every "finally finished" is worth noting, even if only with a reminder: there's still no occupancy permit, and the distance between "construction done" and "open to the public" in Skopje has historically been longer than it looks. When the panoramic restaurant actually seats guests - then the story will be finished. Until then, we've got a tall tower and one permit in process.