Kumanovo municipal headquarters calls to unblock Krasta landfill; Pchinja residents demand full remediation

Municipal authorities in Kumanovo have urged the removal of a residents’ blockade at the Krasta landfill, while inhabitants of nearby Pchinja insist the site must first be fully extinguished and remediated.

Mayor Maksim Dimitrievski met today with residents from Pchinja and neighbouring settlements who for the fifth day have been preventing trucks from entering the dump and depositing municipal waste. The protesters say repeated fires and ongoing smoke from the site endanger their health.

Stojan Stojkovski, the protesters’ representative, told the mayor and the media: "Our positions are clear. We will not lift the blockade until the burning landfill is extinguished. We consider it a criminal act to bring new waste to a burning landfill, and then for smoke to blow toward the village again and for the same situation to repeat."

Municipal headquarters orders measures to allow waste transport

The Kumanovo Municipal Headquarters for Protection and Rescue adopted a set of conclusions aimed at clearing a corridor for waste trucks and reducing fire risk at Krasta. The police were asked to act on a request from the municipal public enterprise that operates the site and to ensure uninterrupted movement of vehicles bringing refuse to the landfill.

The public enterprise was instructed to maintain continuous deployment of earthmoving equipment to cover deposited waste with soil, and to ensure daily deliveries of construction material including soil and non-combustible excavation spoil to be spread over fresh waste. The headquarters also recommended installing additional CCTV cameras at the landfill entrances, exits and access routes; strengthening guard services and physical security; repairing damaged sections of the perimeter fence and erecting new fencing where absent.

Directors at the public enterprise were also told to form, together with local communities, a monitoring group — an eco‑patrol made up of representatives from Pchinja, Studena Bara, Vak'v and Vince and local NGOs — which will carry out weekly checks of the site together with the company.

Maksim Dimitrievski said the municipality has no other location within its territory where municipal waste can legally be deposited, which is why the headquarters supported the public enterprise's request to the police. "We cannot, in solving one problem, open a huge problem for the entire city. I understand the citizens and their right to protest, but I must call on institutions to act so that the public service can be provided," he said.

Residents, however, insist the blockade should continue until the fire is fully extinguished. Stojkovski announced they will maintain the protest into Tuesday and urged local and central authorities to find an alternative disposal site in the meantime; he named the Drisla landfill as one option.

For a durable solution, Dimitrievski said the plan is to build a transfer station and establish a regional waste management system. The project, he added, involves 15 municipalities and a regional public enterprise has been formed; the tender process for the contractor is advanced and documentation has been submitted to the Delegation of the European Union, which is providing financing. The Ministry of Environment and Spatial Planning is managing the procedure. Dimitrievski warned that if progress stalls he will ask the Kumanovo Municipal Council to reconsider the municipality's participation in the regional project, which Kumanovo has been part of since 2015.

Photo: Printskrin