The implementation of new project to deal with air quality begins, which will be realized as a cooperation of the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency – SIDA, the Ministry of Environment and Physical Planning and other partner organizations. The project aims to support the local authorities in five pilot municipalities in our country, in the direction of discovering and measuring the sources of air pollution, identifying, developing and implementing appropriate measures to overcome the problems, strengthening the capacities of the partner organizations, as well as raising public awareness and developing positive habits among the general public. It is based on the results achieved and lessons learned from the first phase of the project that was implemented in the City of Skopje. Successfully implemented activities will be replicated in Kavadarci, Gostivar, Kumanovo, Strumica and Struga as cities that have serious problems with air pollution.
– Hopes and motivations are high when a new project starts, especially when it relates to one of the most pressing problems we face, air pollution – said the Minister of Environment and Physical Planning Kaja Shukova, adding that overcoming these conditions require a multisectoral approach and coordination, and the conceptualization of this project enables exactly that. The Ministry is open for cooperation and support of local governments, and the project activities follow those of the Ministry and fit into the planned solution of this pressing issue.
The Ministry of Local Self-Government, the Bureau for Regional Development and Community of Local-Self Government Units, are involved as partners in the project, and the scientific team will be involved in the implementation through the AMBICON laboratory from the Shtip University “Goce Delchev”, which in the previous cycle was in close cooperation with the professional services of the MOEPP, worked on the detection and modeling of pollution sources on the projection of measures.
In the Project, part of the financial resources will be used to improve the energy efficiency and replace the heating systems of public buildings, for which proposals will be made by the municipalities themselves, and the implementation will take place on the basis of co-financing by the municipalities themselves.
Today’s event was attended and addressed by the permanent representative of UNDP in the country Armen Grigoryan, the ambassador of Sweden Ami Larsson, the minister of Local Self-Government Riston Penov, the executive director of the Community of Local-Self Government Units Dushica Perishic and the director of the Bureau for Regional Development, Ramiz Redzepi