About 20 days remain until the beginning of the heating season, when the heating should be turned on. Skopje residents fear that due to the hot water pipes that have not yet been installed under the "Belasica" bridge, which were set on fire and removed as a result of the fire that engulfed the bridge in May this year, some consumers will be left without heating.
The installation of the new hot water pipes is the responsibility of ESM, from where we asked for an answer when they are planned to be installed and whether it will be done in time before the beginning of the heating season, which is less than three weeks away.

AD ESM is ready, after receiving permission from the City of Skopje, to install the new hot water pipes on the "Belasica" bridge and will make every effort to complete their installation in the shortest possible time. The fire on the bridge is not a reason for delaying the start of the next heating season, which starts in October 2023, and all consumers will have a reliable and uninterrupted delivery of heat energy, claims ESM.

There is still no information from the City of Skopje when they will give the necessary permission to ESM, whose teams in the past period have completely completed the removal of the burned heat pipe on the "Belasica" bridge and, as they say from there, they have also completed all the preparatory activities for the installation of new ones hot water pipes that have already been transferred to the site at the bridge.

As is known, a major fire engulfed the bridge on May 12, after which it was closed to traffic until the damage caused by the fire could be determined. The investigations lasted for several months, and the information that reached the public during that period was completely contradictory, from the fact that the bridge will need a complete rehabilitation, to statements of the type that it is about "cosmetic repairs".

At the beginning of September, the bridge was partially put into use only for light vehicles in the two end lanes, while the two middle lanes, as announced by the City of Skopje, should be opened at the time of completion of the construction works by ESM.

The report stated that there is a surface crack in the outer concrete layer in the central part of one side of the bridge, caused by the burning of the insulation of the hot water pipes of ESM, which ESM will repair in order to install new hot water pipes as their obligation to enable an uninterrupted supply of the citizens of the city with thermal energy, the City of Skopje announced at the time.

These days, the necessity of faster installation of the heat pipe under the bridge was pointed out by the Regulatory Commission for Energy, from where they emphasized that the thermal power plant will not be able to be put into operation, that is, to be included in the system, if it is not put into use. the hot water system of the bridge. The President of RKE Marko Bislimoski emphasized that the price of TE-TO is three times lower than that of the heating plants and that if TE-TO does not supply Skopje with thermal energy, a "price tsunami" would occur to its users. However, as he said, he expects responsible behavior and that the heat pipe will be put into use on time.

The heating season is on the threshold and there is little time left to solve the problem. But is gas already provided for uninterrupted delivery of thermal energy to homes? ESM says that the procurement procedure is in progress.

After completing the gas procurement procedure, you will be additionally informed about the selection of the most favorable bidder - the company will respond shortly.