Ivanovska tells Fokus: The detailed urban plan for ‘Barutana’ protects private interests, not citizens

Biljana Ivanovska, the former chair of the State Commission for the Prevention of Corruption (DKŠK) and a candidate for mayor of Skopje’s Centar municipality, said in an interview for Fokus that the Detailed Urban Plan (DUP) for the “Barutana” neighbourhood on Vodno mainly protects private interests and puts residents at risk.

According to her, the porous soil and the rainwater running down from Vodno make the plan dangerous — with a constant threat of erosion, landslides and new traffic chaos, according to Ivanovska’s interview for Fokus.

According to research by Levica and Fokus, the company “Lutariko” not only initiated the drafting of the DUP but also financed the drafting itself — so the private investor does not wait for urban policy to determine the purpose of his property, but enters directly into the process that determines it.

The network of companies around Barutana, as Levica reports, is linked to the circle of Sasho Mijalkov. The draft DUP was voted through with the votes of SDSM and DPMNE in the Council of the Centar municipality, chaired by Mayor Goran Gerasimovski, newly appointed vice-president of SDSM.

The organisation ZNAM has demanded a detailed revision of the plan, recalling that in the past large masses of water and earth have slid down the slopes of Vodno, damaging the surrounding settlements.