Developtments in Macedonia

Hello everyone, I have been watching the projects on this website for a long time, and just want to say I am impressed with what I see. Having said that, I also have to ask, is the Macedonian government pouring all their money in Skopje only? What happened to all the other cities in Macedonia? Aren't there any new apartments or office buildings being built in Bitola? Strumica? Kumanovo? Gevgelija? Tetovo?  I would really like to hear some of your opinions this issue. Thanks.

its Law of regional development, but for now is just arrested development, cause there are too many priorities standing on the way, like unfinished process of decentralisation or ironing of the campaign for investing opportunities in Macedonia, which we hope that will bring interest for our natural wealth, which for now is on sell-out...

The Challenge of Regional Development in the Republic of Macedonia
 

The government doesn't and shouldn't control the amount of GDP created in different cities. Also the government job is not to build buildings except in speciffic cases. Those are things determined by the open market itself. The government job is to stimulate development everywhere by different and mostly subtle methods. From the methods that are most visible, there is ofcourse the infrastructure strenghthening which is at a very low level across the country and nothing is different in Skopje's case.
What country are you from? It would be interesting to tell us how that country is managing this and then we can compare it to Macedonia.

As a person born and living in Skopje I can tell you thet I'm not happy at all how the government is controling the money that should be controlled by the city of Skopje and is investing it in all the wrong places while the crucial projects stay forgotten. The current style of investment in Skopje by the government is a catastrophy on so many levels. I don't see a reason to be envious of Skopje atm, feeling sorry for Skopje is a more appropriate emotion.




Edited by Cloverstack - 24-Mar-2009 at 12:14

Gitar, you should not take as relevant what do the people in greece mean about our country and it's geography. At least take another country becous of the well known problem.

I cannot agree with your opinion. Nobody can judge Skopje because it has developed more than other 30+ cities. Let's take Gevgelija as a example of fast development. Gevgelija is existing under the same laws and regulation as Skopje, as Bitola, as Ohrid, as Strumica etc. But Gevgelija is different thaty the other because they found a new way to make profit, the greek citizens come to Gevgelija to gamle, to wash their cars, to go to dentist, to go shopping. Why Bitola can't do that?! Thei ar the same distance from the border, they have E-corridor through their city?! Skopje cannot be the fault always about the other cities low grade of development.

As I told before, NOBODY can judge Skopje because of the amount of money that Skopje "gives" for the other cities. I don't want to sound like I'am local Skopje patriot but this the sad truth about macedonian development.

 

@cloverstack

 

My family is from Lerin, so if you want we can compare Lerin and Bitola. I guess the reason why Bitola came as a big shock to me is because I was in Lerin 2 years ago and it was just going through a building boom, there were new apartments being built everywhere (5+ floors), there are like 5 new supermarkets that just opened (some German and Spanish companies), infrastructure is not the best but the roads and bridges are in good shape. They also have a huge renovated central square, and a very very large active nightlife. All this and at the end of the day the population of Lerin is just some 12,000 people. I don't know, I guess I was just expecting more when I went to Bitola because it has a population of some 80,000 people, instead I found that Lerin has a more "city" feel to it, and it is much more cleaner and newer. Don't get me wrong I still love Bitola, it is a unique city with great historical value, but I find that it is lacking a lot when compared to other cities.

 

The life in the village was also great, my family comes from a village near Lerin with only 800 people, yet it has a car mechanic, grocery store, pharmacy, 2 schools, restaurant, cafes, insurence office, hair salon, and the village square has just been renovated with marble. How many villages in Macedonia with the same population can say they have half those things? The locals told me that the goverment will pay 70% of the costs of opening a new business, which is why many have done so. They also told me that the banks were easily giving loans away to anyone (I guess those days are over now).

 

@gitar

I agree with your view

Edited by macedonia - 24-Mar-2009 at 15:16

delete

Edited by macedonia - 20-Aug-2012 at 03:38

You seem to like the idea of building in infrastructure. That's not a bad idea, Greece invested heavily in progects that involved building roads, bridges, public transportation (for example Solun is getting a new subway system), and don't forget the 2004 olympics. I think investing in infrastructure is a great opportunity to create more jobs and bring the unemployment level down, for Macedonia infrastructure should be the top priority of the government. But in the case with Greece, there was kind of a bad effect from this, it attracted thousands of illegal migrant workers from Albania to come and work for cheap wages (there is an extimated 1 million Albanian immigrants in Greece, of which 400,000 are registered). I still kind of like the idea of the government assisting its citizens in opening new businesses, even if that "70%" does sound a little exagerated. That list of all the things I mentioned before, i was trying to describe what I saw as a result of a thriving business enviroment - the government is obviously doing something right if it attracted Spanish and German companies to open supermarkets in a small town like Lerin.

I'm sorry you hate Florina so much, but come on, for a city of such small size it has almost everything Bitola has. That is what I love about it, in a way its a small friendly town but with an urban city feel.

My point exactly! You said the same things I said. The tax payers' dollars (actually denars, but I'm on a role here ) are being spent like crazy on shitty projects no one needs (with all due respect to some exceptions), and are of no use to anyone! But those projects are all in Skopje. Thus, all the state money goes to Skopje, even though no one ever benefits from that (which is besides the point here, but still a humongous problem). Don't mention the tenders that have all failed, that's no investment. The reconstruction of major roads? That's done using special funds which wouldn't give away their money for someone to build a courthouse guarded by a phalanx. So basically, what I'm saying is, the money being spent by the government (from its own pocket, as I like saying) in the rest of the country adds up to a total of $~0,00! I know those funds aren't charity, so they will have to pay those debts sooner or later, but still... One feels bad when Skopje is being built with so much money by the tax-payers, while the rest of the country gets thrown a bone at by having a new asphalt layer laid on the nearby local road, using money from different loans or grants, which basically translates into: "the charity goes for you guys, while the real money goes to Skopje". Don't get me wrong, it doesn't mean that if it's funded by some grants or favourable loans it's bad, but things aren't really balanced. Why not build a new courthouse in Bitola? The one we have there is a 40-yr old building that was recently 'expanded' and now has a loft (which looks butt ugly by the way). It's one of the 4, 5, how many courts in Macedonia? Why shouldn't it get a new building? There's just no excuse. I might sound too offensive, but that's the truth. I know I've made things look quite simple in this post, as if there are only 10 investments per year in the entire country, but the truth is not far from that. Just name 3 projects that the government has financed over the past 3 years, not just this year, that are outside of Skopje. I can name the Ohrid bypass and the Veles theater. Nothing else comes on my mind, and I'm pretty sure you can't think of anything else either.

Originally posted by macedonia I'm sorry you hate Florina so much, but come on, for a city of such small size it has almost everything Bitola has. That is what I love about it, in a way its a small friendly town but with an urban city feel.

Nah, it's actually cool. A nice small place to relax. No urban stress, no nothing (as if living in Bitola is stressful). I admit it's 10x better than any city in Macedonia, big or small, but the part about the nightlife was plain wrong, and I had to let you know After all, Greeks are known to party in bouzouktzidika (where they play bouzouki and throw flowers) while discotheques are not that popular there. If you don't like laika (the modern folk music) then it's hard to have a nice time. In Athens and the islands maybe (Thes/niki too :/) but up north, no way Jose!


Edited by гитардемон - 25-Mar-2009 at 01:32

A proper share of the public money should be distributed to the local authorities by a formula that takes into account all the relevant factors.

wtf? It is not like that already? Central government controls 99%? You guys seriously need a new system!