Even after 10 years since the implementation of the "Skopje 2014" project, with which the government led by the then Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski completely changed the face of the central city area, "covering" the buildings in baroque, building fountains and erecting monuments, some of the started buildings remained unfinished.

Such an example is the monument to Mother Teresa, which, although it is an illegal construction, so far no solution has been found for what will be done next. The facades of "Pelagonia" and the ESM building, which were supposed to have baroque facades, remained peeled off. On the ESM building on the upper floors there are also holes without windows, which indicates that the interior of the building is also in a terrible state. The previous mayor, Petre Shilegov, did not allow the planned implementation, so the buildings were left without facades. Scaffolding is still hanging around the square and on several other buildings, which are being built by private investors.

Macedonia Square and its immediate surroundings, which should be the face of the city, is actually an ugly image of what Skopje once was, although this area is first on the list of visits of many tourists staying in Skopje.

No one is finishing the facades of "Pelagonia" and ESM, which "Skopje 2014" stripped

According to the announcements of Prime Minister Hristijan Mickoski, the unfinished buildings from the "Skopje 2014" project will be completed, but not this year, because the rebalancing of the budget does not include money for that purpose. Funds will be provided in the next budget, for 2025.

Mickoski agrees that the unfinished buildings from the "Skopje 2014" project disfigure the face of the capital and wishes that they would be completed soon, although, as he said, he is a fan of the modern style and would like to see the buildings completed that way, but still, as said, that's what the architects will say.

It's really a question that concerns me personally as a person born in Skopje, raised here and really it's too ugly the way it looks unfinished and unfinished and we're looking for a way to finish a large number of those buildings. I don't want to discuss tastes, maybe someone has a certain direction in art that they like, someone has another direction in art that they like, maybe someone likes what I don't like, but I'm a fan of modern style and I would like those buildings and structures that you mentioned to be completed as soon as possible so that they do not disfigure the face of the capital because they are forgotten - said Mickoski, answering a journalist's question during the visit to the Customs Administration about what the Government plans with the unfinished buildings from the project.

Passing under the "Pelagonia" building at your own risk, pieces of the unfinished facade fall

According to him, no money is foreseen in the rebalance because analyzes were made of the legal status of these buildings, because some of them are private investments, which the state cannot build on and renovate, but as he said, they want to talk with the investors in order to finish.

I read a data that the number of tourists in our country has increased by 11 percent compared to last year, while I read in the surrounding countries that are traditionally tourist-intensive, the number of tourists has decreased this year, in some of the states by 20-25 percent. Therefore, these facilities should be completed as soon as possible - said the Prime Minister.

Gruevski's government spent more than 2014 million euros on the "Skopje 700" project.