Kumanovo still hasn’t solved the waste problem

By Тео Блажевски On Mar 30, 2017 0

The general waste problem still without an advanced solution. Photo: Pixabay

The promissed solution was a construction of Waste Incinerator in the vicinity of Kumanovo, but it is still on paper only, with produced studies and public discussions.

Dealing with the hard waste and dislocation of the existing landfill

In the coming period, special attention will be paid to the project “Waste Incinerator” for the third, North-East, Planning Region. It will be done through Public – Private Partnership, and a feasibility study for the incinerator was produced and adopted at the beginning of 2013, while the work on the Study of the impact on the environment is still underway. The total forecasted amount of the investment is between 50.000.000 and 60.000.000 euro… (Deadline: in the upcoming period)

EXPLANATION:

In the 2013 Election program of Kumanovo’s incumbent mayor Zoran Damjanovski, the first item in the Capital investments section (page 7) is the promise for the project “Waste Incinerator”, which would permanently solve the problem with the general waste not only in Kumanovo, but in the North-East region of Macedonia as well. The promise has no implementation deadline.

In fact, it’s a regional issue and according to the information in the media, it should’ve been solved through public – private partnership, with the help from the Ministry of Environment and Physical Planning (MEPP) as well as from foreign funds, European Union funds in the first place. Additionally, Damjanovski’s Election program states that the promise will be fulfilled by the Municipality of Kumanovo, which makes sense, because it is the largest municipality in the country, with population of more than 103 thousand citizens, whereas the East planning region has total population of 170 thousand.

Following an in-depth analysis of the internet archives, including Municipality of Kumanovo’s web site, we can conclude that the construction of the “Waste Incinerator” is not realized.

The mayor didn’t state a deadline in the program, but because he has been re-elected several times, he was criticized by VMRO-DPMNE (opposition party in the municipal Council) which accused that the promise for solving the waste problem was included in all of his election programs, but remains unsolved.

The checkup shows that a Study on landfill’s impact on the environment has been carried out, and there had been public discussions scheduled by the Bureau for Development’s Department for North-East Planning Region, and a regional plan for using the IPA funds had been produced by the Ministry of Environment, and finally, there is a Development Program of the North-East Planning Region 2015-2019… Out of all of this, as we found out in the last document on page 51, the only thing realized is the establishment of a regional enterprise for dealing with the general waste.

Therefore, the Krasta landfill, established back in 1960, which has around 9 million cubic meters of waste and in 2011 was assessed as landfill with middle hazard level and was facing closure, is still operational, whilst plans or discussions for finding a solution are still being conducted.

The problem became even more notable when recently the Public Revenue Office (PRO) blocked the bank account of the Public Enterprise “Chistota i zelenilo” (Sanitation and Greenery), due to 40 million denar debt in unpaid taxes. PE’s director and the mayor Damjanovski claim that the debt is fictitious because it is a matter of reprogrammed funds from the government, which were transfered back in 2010 and that this whole situation has a political background prior the local elections.

Owing to the fact that Damjanovski’s term is about to end (in May 2017), and there aren’t still specific on-site activities related to the construction of the “Waster Incinerator”, we consider this election promise of his as unfulfilled, because, so far (28 March 2017), just several steps have been made toward its completion, but on paper only.

SOURCES:

(2013) My Choice – Сојуз за иднината, иднината сега (Capital investments, page 7)– [Accessed on 28 March 2017]
(2013) Daily.mk/Vesti – Со пари од ЕУ Куманово ќе добие Горилница за отпад – – [Accessed on 28 March 2017]
(2013) VMRO-DPMNE – Прес конференција – [Accessed on 28 March 2017]
(2013) Студијата за оцена на влијание врз животната средина за проектот: Изградба на инсталација за производство на електрична и топлинска енергија преку горeње на отпад во Североисточниот плански регион во општина Куманово – [Accessed on 28 March 2017]
(02 April 2014) North-East planning region – Регионален план за управување со отпад – [Accessed on 28 March 2017]
(2015) North-East planning region – Програма за развој на Северо Источен плански регион 2015-2019 – [Accessed on 28 March 2017]
(2011) MEPP – План за затворање на нестандардните депонии во Р.М. – [Accessed on 28 March 2017]
(2016) MEPP – Отворена работилница… – [Accessed on 28 March 2017]
(2017) – Municipality of Kumanovo, web site – Блокирана сметка на ЈП Чистота и зеленило – [Accessed on 28 March 2017]

Assessed by: Teo Blazhevski

All comments and remarks regarding this and other Vistinomer articles, correction and clarification requests as well as suggestions for fact-checking politicians’ statements and political parties’ promises can be submitted by using this form

This article was created within the framework of the Project to increase the accountability of the politicians and political parties Truthmeter implemented by Metamorphosis. The article is made possible by the generous support of the National Endowment for Democracy(NED) and The Balkan Trust for Democracy (BTD), a project of the German Marshall Fund of the United States, an initiative that supports democracy, good governance, and Euroatlantic integration in Southeastern Europe. The content is the responsibility of its author and does not necessarily reflect the views of Metamorphosis, National Endowment for Democracy, the Balkan Trust for Democracy, the German Marshall Fund of the United States, or its partners.