Rubble and remains of demolished discos dumped in City Park — luna park still not started

Half a year after the city demolished the summer discos in City Park, rubble and trash still lie on the site, and there is no sign on the ground of the start of work to build the long-promised luna park.

At the beginning of February this year Mayor Orce Gjorgjievski said that the discos were being torn down and that "there must be order." He also wrote: "The area is being cleared for the construction of the luna park. The old illegally built discos in City Park are becoming history." Instead of a cleared lot, right next to the maintained area in front of the City of Skopje’s barracks one can see the "wreckage" of the former luna park and remains of the discos, followed later by piles of branches and uprooted trunks from the severe storm two weeks ago.

Contract from May, but nothing on the ground

At the beginning of May the City signed a contract with the company "Mastef" for the design, procurement and installation of attractions for an amusement park with landscaping and ancillary buildings, worth 620 million denars, or slightly more than 10 million euros. City services state that the project is in the design phase in cooperation with professors and experts from the Faculty of Civil Engineering and Architecture and the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, with the aim of applying the highest safety standards.

So far citizens have not received details about how many attractions will be installed, what the traffic access will be like, or whether parking is planned. The City of Skopje has not responded as to why the rubble has not been cleared and when construction work will begin, which would first include cleaning the area and then developing it and installing the attractions.

According to the technical specification in the contract, the new luna park should extend over a fenced area of 28,800 square meters and have 16 attractions. The planned elements include a bumper car platform; three roller coasters – mini, children’s and family; a small and a large pirate ship; a panoramic and a mini panoramic wheel; a rail train ride; a thrill flying ride; a carousel; an adventure spinning ride; as well as attractions with little airplanes, a tea-cup ride and a kangaroo ride.

Skopje residents note that similar announcements have been repeated for years. Construction first began in April 2017, during Koce Trajanovski’s term, with an estimated amount of around 6.5 million euros and a project with 27 attractions. New projects followed under other mayors' terms, but the luna park was never opened. Now, with the site still covered in rubble and damaged by the storm, residents say they will believe the promise when they see work on the ground — and at the very least they expect the remnants of the demolished discos to be cleared.

Photo: press material from the event