Arsovska "unintentionally" introduced free transportation

Aneta Stojkovska / Photo: Free Press

It must be acknowledged that no one has so far found (or does not want to find) a serious systemic solution that should not only be talked about, but also applied. Now, as soon as we are not poisoned. And not just to make recommendations after PM 10 particles reach dizzying heights.

We are sending another year of our lives (second pandemic in a row) and we are on the threshold of the new year, 2022, in which again, as always, we hope and expect some good things to happen to us. First, let the coronavirus go away once, and then hug us like humans. To rejoice together, to grieve, to celebrate, simply to socialize with each other as before. No delays.

At this time of year two things remain unchanged - counting down the days and counting PM particles in the air. So, from the old year that we are sending, there are still two days left, and the air pollution figures have again climbed us on the list of the most polluted cities in the world. Already usual, especially in Skopje, when foggy weather without wind is affected.

Because only the wind is the salvation of Skopje. To blow up the PM 10 and PM 2,5 particles to "catch a glimpse". Wind is actually the most effective measure against polluted air. Better than all the systems that city and state governments have come up with. A measure that gives immediate results and should not be waited for years. Which is right, and a little rain does the job. The natural flow of air through the capital has long been stopped by excessive urbanization, by the buildings that have been pushed to every vacant place. And it will be even worse when the towers at the Holiday Inn, Ramstore Mall and the former Treska factory are built.

The other day, the former mayor Petre Shilegov, who at the end of his term repeatedly boasted that pollution is no longer a top topic in Skopje, published a picture of one of the measuring stations in the city, painted purple from too many toxins in the air. That's right, let go of the "guide" without a word to say and so on. And that caused rivers of reactions and of course again inter-party fighting - who did what he did to clean Skopje of poisons, who is guilty and who is right.

Let me remind Shilegov that the citizens published purple pictures last year and the years before, but none of them should worry. Nobody. Pollution is a top topic in Skopje and will be for a long time unless something really serious is done. Chimney sweeps, inverters and bicycle subsidies do not help here. It's just a drop in the ocean solving problems. And, by the way, if Shilegov claims that the pollution has decreased during his term, surely the new mayor did not pollute the air in two months!

It must be acknowledged that simply no one has so far found (or does not want to find) a serious systemic solution that should not just be talked about but applied. Now, as soon as we are not poisoned. And not just to make recommendations after PM 10 particles reach dizzying heights.

The former director of the State Inspectorate for Environment and one of the candidates for mayor of Skopje in the last local elections, Ana Petrovska, recently pointed out that "instead of really dealing with what does not concern us and preventing mortality (about 3.000 people die each year from consequences of pollution), we are making the same recommendations again after it is too late. " She believes that fossil fuels should be excluded from use, to stop burning coal, petrocox and fuel oil in industrial facilities. And very important - to take measures that would be binding instead of just recommendations.

At the moment, as I am writing this, there are about twenty recommendations of the City of Skopje against air pollution. Among them is free public transport while the pollution is above the legally prescribed minimum (over 150 milligrams per cubic meter of average daily concentrations of PM10). Thus, Danela Arsovska "unintentionally" fulfilled the pre-election promise - free transport of Skopje citizens by JSP buses and those of private transporters. At least for a few days. At least to see how much a few days free transportation will cost the City.

By the way, it is not clear to me how the efforts for systematic solution of pollution and for a clean city fit into the fact that in the proposed Budget of the City of Skopje for 2022 the money available to the Department of Environment has been reduced three times, compared to the budget had for 2021?

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