Opposition blocks Tetovo council meeting over contested public–private partnership
DUI claims a proposed PPP for a fire station and municipal building hands public land to private investor and would cost the municipality millions to repurchase parts of the complex.
Opposition councillors blocked a municipal council meeting in Tetovo today after the Democratic Union for Integration (DUI) accused the mayor of pushing a public–private partnership (PPP) that would disadvantage public property.
The agenda item under dispute was a proposal to start the procedure for awarding a contract for a PPP covering the design, financing, construction, equipping, management and maintenance of a fire station and a municipal building on the same site.
Key figures from the project study
According to Berat Murati, coordinator of DUI's council group, the plan foresees building a complex of about 14,322 square metres of gross above‑ground area on public land measuring 6,768 square metres.
The study’s baseline scenario lists the municipality’s contribution as the land, the existing building and part of communal charges. In return the municipality would receive only 15 percent of the new building — roughly 2,158 square metres.
Under the same scenario, an additional 45 percent (about 6,477 square metres) would have to be repurchased from the private investor at an estimated cost of approximately €7.7 million, while the remaining 40 percent (around 5,757 square metres) would remain in the private investor’s permanent ownership.
DUI says the arrangement effectively hands over public assets without compensation and creates a situation in which the municipality would then pay millions to use the same property. The council meeting could not proceed after opposition members blocked its continuation.
Photo: press material from the event
