At around 8 pm on Sunday, the new Mayor of Skopje, Orce Gjorgjievski, presented information on the 72-hour cleanup activities in the capital. Voicing satisfaction with the results, he stated that 4,500 tonnes of waste had been collected, the Vardar’s riverbed had been cleaned, as had been the landfill near the Butel Cemetery. Activities regarding Vardariste have started, Gjorgjievski stated.
“We will not stop, we’re making an operational plan on action for the upcoming period”, the Mayor added.
The activities covered also households and many other locations, including the quay, Stone Bridge, and City Park. The Mayor’s plan is for there to be over 60 lorries that are functional for waste activities.
“When I became Mayor, there were only 14 functional lorries for cleaning waste. Now, there are 40, but we’re going further for there to be over 60 lorries”, Gjorgjievski noted.
Over 40 fines have been issued against physical persons and legal entities during the activities, he explained as well. Commenting on the activities, SDSM had previously stated that Gjorgjievski was using the process for PR purposes.
“The people of Skopje saw that the garbage had been left only for Orce to be organising circus spectacles with drones and cameras”, the party noted.
Earlier, that is, on Friday, Gjorgjievski had stated that starting from Monday, 55 private buses would become part of public transport in the capital. As he explained, by New Year’s, there will have been another 20, while in March, with support from the central Government, 80 new buses will be procured.
Though he stated that the City’s financial position was serious, with just 40 million denars on the account, and significant level of debt when it came to PEs, he stressed there would be efforts aiming at stabilisation and regular payment of liabilities. Regarding the dismissals over no-show jobs, Gjorgievski stated that there had been serious misuse within PEs.
“Yesterday, we had a list of 371 persons that would receive pay without going to work. Today, that number is 398. I expect it to reach 500. That’s at least five million euros per year or 20 million over four years, money that could have been invested in projects such as an amusement park for Skopje”, he stressed.
Gjorgjievski called on relevant institutions to investigate cases, adding that he would demand accountability for all who’d signed off on such misuse.