Pehchevo council to vote on data centre on 25 August — activists demand halt
Environmental activists say the vote is being held without public consultation and demand the procedure be stopped.
The municipal council of Pehchevo is scheduled to vote at 10:00 on 25 August 2026 on an initiative to establish a data centre in the Pancharevo area, local environmental activists say.
Activists from the initiative "Zelena narodna straža" are demanding that the procedure be stopped and that councillors vote against the proposal, arguing the process has been conducted secretly and without transparency.
Where and what is at stake
The group says the proposed facility would occupy five cadastral parcels (KP 6268/1, KP 6268/2, KP 6268/3, KP 6269 and KP 6270) in Pancharevo, but that there has been no public announcement of the investor and no information about how much electricity and water the installation would consume.
"(Also) without knowing the size of the investment. Without knowing how much citizens will have to pay for this. Without an environmental impact study. Without knowing the impact on nature and the population. Without any public debate. Without informing the citizens. Behind closed doors," the activists say, and they published a video alongside their statement.
They note that, in a fast-track decision, the Government recently amended the Law on Construction and the Law on Urban Planning so that data centres are now classified as objects of national importance, introducing an accelerated procedure in which professional review and public consultation are not mandatory.
Addressing Mayor Aleksandar Kitanski directly, the initiative asks: "Are you treating Pehchevo as your private yard so you can decide on such key issues without anyone knowing? Who wants to turn this green oasis of North Macedonia into a desert? We demand that the initiative be halted and that the vote tomorrow be 'against'. We call on all conscious citizens to share this video and to demand the immediate halting of this initiative and the disclosure of all information related to it," the statement reads.
Another local group, "Zelen human grad", has also asked publicly which experts Minister Stefan Andonovski consulted on the matter of data centres.
The municipal session in Pehchevo is set to begin at 10:00 on 25 August 2026; the activists urge councillors to reject the initiative and ask authorities to make all related information public before any decision is taken.
Photo: ilustracija / Wikimedia commons
