Extra inspection ordered after video shows excavation at Ohrid Lake shore
Mayor Pecakov says an extraordinary inspection was sent this morning to verify construction activity shown in a video by Ohrid SOS.
Environmental activists raised the alarm after a video released by the civic initiative Ohrid SOS appeared to show construction machinery and earthworks operating right on the shore of Ohrid Lake.
The footage prompted a response from local authorities. Mayor Pecakov confirmed that "an extraordinary inspection was sent this morning" to the site to establish the factual situation, and that the public will be informed about the findings recorded in the inspection report.
Inspection on the ground
The inspection team is expected to examine whether the equipment and excavation visible in the video were authorised and whether any legal or environmental protections were violated inside the protected coastal strip.
Activists say this incident is the latest in a series of alerts over possible usurpation of the shoreline and damage to the sensitive ecosystem in the UNESCO-protected zone, caused both by construction and by floating structures.
According to environmental campaigners, such interventions inside the protected belt directly threaten the lake.
The Ohrid Lake region has been under intensified scrutiny by domestic organisations and the international community for years because of urban pressure on the shore. It remains to be seen whether the inspection will finally put an end to the shoreline usurpations or whether this case will simply be recorded in a report.
Photo: press material from the event
