Sasho Ordanoski
In politics, the triumph of victories lasts much less than expected or at least what the winners hope for. When you successfully convince the voters, with all the pre-election exaggerations, that everything in the city is a catastrophe, then that catastrophe should be solved by you. And no one gives you 100 days of peace to describe the catastrophe any more.
“Danela Arsovska will either be a very successful mayor of Skopje or it will be a real disaster, there will be no environment for her,” said one of the key people of VMRO-DPMNE included in her “independent” election headquarters who helped her to a convincing victory. recent local elections. However, as it turned out, he was not as key to victory as the civic mood towards the previous Skopje mayor and his party.
But in politics, the triumph of victories lasts much less than expected or at least what the winners hope for. When you successfully convince the voters, with all the pre-election exaggerations, that everything in the city is a catastrophe, then that catastrophe should be solved by you. And no one gives you 100 days of peace to describe the catastrophe any more.
So these days we understand – initially, whites, through Facebook – that the promise of free bus transportation will not be fulfilled, at least not in the next two years. There was no sustainable math in that for the City. There will be none of the hundreds of new buses promised as a replacement for the dilapidated JSP fleet, although, rightly so, even when the idea was hastily promised, even those who voted for the current mayor knew it was flat pre-election populist nonsense.
On the other hand, what seemed like a viable solution, supported by the studies of foreign creditors and domestic experts hired to make it – the project “Bass Rapid Transport” – Danela Arsovska wrote off with, literally, one and a half sentences on Facebook. Additional brief explanations from the City about the stopped EBRD tender followed. As far as we understand, the project would have produced environmental problems, some water pipes would have had to be solved, the roses, bushes and violets that are now planted on the project route would have been destroyed, and it was not approved by the City Council in time.
The mayor quickly announced a referendum on BRT, and then even faster abandoned the idea.
That project may have been controversial, but its “rapid” abolition is even more controversial. There are no announcements that would replace him. In fact, there are, but they seem even more meaningless: with the money for the construction of BRT, the mayor plans to buy environmentally friendly buses that, from now on for two years, will drive the citizens for free on the streets of Skopje. An unimportant detail is that the 70 million euros from the already signed EBRD loan for BRT can not be reallocated, but Arsovska expects to receive those funds as grants! From whom, until when, how much, how… ?!
Well, yes, it sounds nice, it’s important if it’s feasible. The problem has been delayed for two years. Achieved!
In the meantime, I read somewhere that there is an initiative to reduce the city price of parking in the center of Skopje, which means an invitation to all those who drive in cars to drive even more in cars. It is against the ecological and traffic logic of solving the urban problems in that area, but the roses and violets will be saved. There is no analysis or study behind that, there is a need to buy some time with some “positive” news for the citizens who want to drive cars.
And the finished bridge at the Russia Hotel in Aerodrom, which in the vision (failed) of the previous mayor was supposed to solve many of the traffic problems in that part of the city, the new mayor jokingly declared as a “fishing bridge”. Because the boulevard that needs to be penetrated after the bridge has unresolved property and legal problems. Arsovska does not think that is part of the things she needs to solve in her term.
But, therefore, the change of directors of the city public enterprises was quickly passed, which is fine, because they were party solutions of the complicated coalition of power of the previous mayor. And Arsovska is an independent, non-partisan candidate. The new directors, God forbid, have nothing to do with parties.
Although, as a matter of fact, I liked the answer that the city authorities “rapidly” gave to Stevcho Jakimovski after his Facebook call-up of Arsovska that he was blocking his vision for continued concreting of the municipality of Karpos, for which the citizens (s) of that Skopje municipality in the local elections. Fifteen million euros are in question, says Jakimovski, for which the “investors” would sue the Municipality, and for such money Stevco would overthrow the Government, and not Arsovska from power. But I think that in the end – perhaps as a result of the numerous threats that Arsovska publicly complained that she received every day – they will agree, in the interest of at least a few citizens of Karposh.
Because it was similar with the New Year’s decoration of the city: the mayor first completely gave it up, so she changed her mind, for now, ten days before the New Year, to decorate a little, but not to disturb the general impression that everything is a disaster and a cataclysm in our lives. Here, too, Santa Claus has a political use value, even the youngest children should be instilled with depression in their mentality from an early age. At least until the change of government at all levels in the country.
And so… It seems that for another four years we will “wrestle” between the two extremes that the new mayor will bring us in Skopje: either it will be very successful – or it will be a real disaster. As it turned out, it seems that the environment does not suit Arsovska.
Source: Sloboden Pecat
