Director of the World Bank (WB) office for North Macedonia and Kosovo, Massimiliano Paolucci, stated at a conference for presentation of an analysis of WB over the air quality in the country, that in North Macedonia on average 2,800 people annually die due to health complications caused by air pollution.
“Despite certain progress made compared to the 1990s, the air pollution still remains a great issue for the citizens of North Macedonia, especially in the winter period. Fresh air is of great importance for healthy environment, but our data show that people in Skopje and Tetovo, for example, breathe far mor polluted air compared to cities in Western Europe”, Paolucci said.
First Deputy PM and Environment Minister Izet Mexhiti said that the WB analysis can point out the main causes of air pollution so that institutions of the state can deal with them.
“This is in line with the programme for fresh air that we recently adopted with the government. I believe that more intense implementation of the projects for gasification could effectively deal with this issue”, Mexhiti suggested.