Until six months ago, the space at Porta Makedonija, more precisely along the alley that passes under the Gate and leads to the city square, was entered by whoever arrived by car - deliverymen, guests at restaurants, citizens who went shopping in the City Shopping Center. Wild parking was not punished by anyone, and the result of all that was the destroyed and broken tiles on the pavement that was arranged only two or three years ago.

Nobody felt responsible for this situation, neither the police nor the city and municipal inspectors, even though parking in an illegal place is punishable, until the problem was updated by "Sloboden Pechat". Then, the City of Skopje reacted promptly, closed the approach to the square under the Gate, put a guard house, who only lets the cars of the tenants who live in the building in the square pass here. And so, order was put in the habits of the citizens, who abused the existing situation as much as possible, so in the absence of fines, ramps, hydraulic bollards or any other devices that can stop the movement of vehicles, they freely parked in this space in the strictest center of the city.

But the order that was established on the move to the square, turned into a serious disorder in the space in front of the entrance to the Gate. During the whole day, delivery trucks and vans, taxi drivers, security agencies are parked there. The delivery people leave their vehicles and use manual transporters to take the goods to the catering facilities around the square. The delay is even after 20 minutes, and the number of vehicles in the improvised parking lot is increasing day by day, so in the morning hours it is also extended to the triangle near the traffic lights.

 So, it is impossible to pass by vans, it is unprecedented chaos. Not to mention that there are many tourists in the city, every day I see several groups exploring the square and of course the Gate, taking pictures in front of it together with the trucks and taxi drivers. Oh, the square is dirty, so the Gate is blocked. They will take away really nice impressions from Skopje. A shame! Is there a police force in town? If I leave my car parked where it shouldn't be for five minutes, I will be fined immediately, and this has been going on for months and I have never seen anyone being fined. And what's with all-day product delivery? Wasn't the delivery time limited? - a citizen who works in one of the shops near the gate says indignantly.

And again, none of the authorities reacts and does nothing to solve this problem, above all the police, who are obliged to punish for illegal parking, but also for delivering goods outside the specified time.

Already five years ago, at the session of the Council of the City of Skopje held in March 2018, amendments were made to the Decision on organizing and defining the conditions for the delivery of goods in the area of ​​the city of Skopje, according to which it is prohibited to deliver goods in the central area goods in the period from 7.30:18 a.m. to 15:8 p.m. At the same time, delivery vehicles can stop and park while unloading and loading, but for a maximum of XNUMX minutes. In addition, Article XNUMX states that the delivery of goods can be carried out if it does not endanger the safety of pedestrian and vehicle traffic.

The approval for movement, stopping and parking of vehicles due to the delivery of goods is issued by the City of Skopje. Therefore, they do not answer whether the decision from 2018 is respected when issuing approvals, in which, among other things, the zones and time period in which the delivery of goods is allowed are determined.

The ban on the delivery of goods from 7.30:18 a.m. to XNUMX:XNUMX p.m. applies to the narrower central area, i.e. the stretch from Franklin Roosevelt Street to the Transport Center, from Ilinden Boulevard to the intersection at TC "Mavrovka", i.e. from Metropolitan Teodosij Gologanov Boulevard to South Boulevard and for all service streets in that area. Which means, it also applies to the space at Porta Makedonija.

The first year after the adoption of the decision, the police controlled and punished for its violation, so in less than a year 227 fines were issued. Now he tolerates what is happening near the GTC. When asked whether delivery drivers and taxi drivers have the right to park in front of Porta Makedonija and why they are not punishing us for improper punishment and for disobeying the decision to ban deliveries during the day, the Ministry of the Interior said that the trucks that deliver goods to places where it is prohibited stopping, parking and pedestrian zones can only be done with the approval of the city of Skopje, while there are marked taxi stands for taxis. They are not responsible for the prohibited delivery of goods during the day.

If the above is not respected, measures are taken against the perpetrators in accordance with the Law on Road Traffic Safety. Police officers from SVR Skopje are currently taking measures for illegally parked vehicles in the entire city area and a total of 01.01.2023 measures have been issued against the perpetrators from 30.08.2023 to 12755, of which 50% are in the central city area - explained by MIA