PHOTO | City clocks show it's time to be repaired
The hands of the sixteen clocks placed throughout Skopje have long since "stood still in time", and those that are still working are inaccurate. Rarely do citizens even look at them, knowing that they have lost the purpose for which they were placed. Younger residents, however, do not even notice them because in today's digital society they rely mainly on mobile phones and smart watches.
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Despite this, large sums of money have been spent on the clocks, and if not more, they should also be properly maintained. The City of Skopje is responsible for this, but they have not been working in a coordinated manner for years, meaning each clock shows a different time of day. Or it does not work at all.
For some of the rare ones whose hands continue to turn, the difference with the correct time is in minutes, but some of them are totally inaccurate, showing different hours and minutes than the real ones.
To tell you the truth, I haven't looked at the street clocks in a long time. They either don't work or they're not accurate, so I've completely lost the habit of looking at them. The city authorities, with their carelessness, have done their best not to notice them - says a passerby.
According to the public procurement system, the City of Skopje announced a tender for the maintenance of the clocks in 2020, when it concluded a contract with the company "Electroinzhenering" worth 37 million denars or about 600 thousand euros, in which this company was responsible for the maintenance of public lighting and the city clocks. Of this, about 1,8 million denars were agreed for the maintenance of the city clocks for one year of maintenance of the clocks.
The following year, a new contract was announced for a duration of two years.
In 2021, a public procurement was carried out, where the company "Magnus Engineering" was selected, and this year the tender was for the maintenance of public lighting and city clocks. Specifically, for the maintenance of city clocks, the City of Skopje will allocate 24 million denars over 2,8 months - the City of Skopje informed at the time.
These days we have again requested an answer from the City of Skopje whether there is a maintenance contract for these clocks, if so, with which company and how old it is. Unfortunately, we have not received a response from them so far, and the clocks will continue to work according to their own unique time.
