Pehcevo municipal council rejects plan to build data centre in Pancharevo
Nine municipal councilors voted against a proposal to build a data centre in the village of Pancharevo; legal changes earlier gave data centres the status of works of national importance.
The nine members of the Municipal Council of Pehcevo voted unanimously against an initiative to build a data centre in the village of Pancharevo, rejecting the proposal at the council meeting held today.
The plan, which was placed on the agenda for the session, had already drawn criticism from several political parties and from environmental activists. In the absence of an open public debate, opponents said they were concerned about the potential environmental impact of the installation, while municipal and national authorities have argued that building data centres in North Macedonia is a necessity.
Legal changes and accelerated procedure
Recent amendments to the building and urban planning laws granted data centres the status of constructions of national importance. The same changes introduced an accelerated approval process in which a professional review and a public survey are not mandatory.
The rejected initiative specifically concerned construction in the village of Pancharevo within the Municipality of Pehcevo. With the council's unanimous vote against the proposal, the project will not proceed in its current form through the municipal decision-making body.
Municipal authorities and the initiative's proponents have not set out a new public timetable following the vote; the council's decision leaves the local planning outcome for this proposal closed unless new steps are submitted under existing legal procedures.
Photo: press material from the event
