City of Skopje seeks damage estimate after Doppelmayr finds safety failures on Vodno cable car

The City of Skopje has asked companies to submit bids to assess the cost of repairing the Vodno cable car after an Austrian inspection found serious safety deficiencies.

Technical inspection and contrasting earlier checks

The Austrian firm Doppelmayr concluded in a technical review that three of the four safety sensors on the Vodno cable car were not working and that the carrying and traction cables were damaged beyond the permitted safety minimum. Those findings conflict with a check carried out in August last year by JSP and the Ministry of Transport, which concluded there were no technical inconsistencies; after that inspection the cable car continued to operate until April 25 this year.

City of Skopje officials told TV 24 they have requested an offer from a company to calculate the cost of the damage, which they say resulted from decades of deferred maintenance. "A request for a bid has been made to determine how much the full defect elimination and return of the cable car to operation will cost. Serious deficiencies have been identified, caused by the necessary major services and regular maintenance not being carried out for years. These are not small or routine interventions, but a major and extensive service that has apparently been neglected for almost a decade. Regarding potential responsibility, as in all cases, any person who committed irregularities should be investigated by the competent investigative authorities and proceedings carried out in accordance with the law," the City of Skopje said.

The technical report prompted sharp reactions from the country’s two largest parties. SDSM accused the ruling circle of a chain of failures tied to Prime Minister Hristijan Mickoski and to municipal officials from his party. "In Switzerland, one faulty sensor led to a death. Here three were not working. JSP previously assured that it was safe. This is the system around Mickoski. Prime minister, minister, mayor – one opens, another closes, one fills, another empties," SDSM charged.

VMRO-DPMNE dismissed the opposition’s accusations as a PR move to collect political points. "The PR of SDSM is running its own politics, however Filipche forgot to tell them that SDSM until two years ago was seven years in power at the central level and eight years in power in the City of Skopje, with Shilegov and with Arsovska. The citizens clearly spoke about the despair in which they left Skopje," VMRO-DPMNE said.

JSP initially announced a two-day suspension to perform extended technical controls, but after Doppelmayr’s inspection the cable car was taken out of service. In June, the City of Skopje allocated €350,000 for servicing, with work announced to be completed in September. The city says investigators should determine whether any legal responsibility exists and act according to the law.

Photo: press material from the event