Cost of controversial Skopje revamp rises again
Macedonia Square after the addition of many monuments and façade reconstructions as part of “Skopje 2014” (Image: Rašo under a CC licence)
11 December 2015
Text
Elise Morton
The cost of the controversial government-funded revamp of the Macedonian capital, Skopje, has risen again.
Branded “Skopje 2014”, the project is now due to cost a total of 633 million euros (approx. US$695 million), a rise of 20 million euros (approx. US$22 million) since estimates this summer, according to data published on BIRN’s Skopje 2014 Uncovered database.
BIRN reports that this latest increase in funding demand is to construct the new buildings for the Faculty of Sports and the Faculty of Information Sciences and Computer Engineering at the University of Skopje.
The cost of Skopje’s new look has already risen sharply, far exceeding the initial figure of 80 million euros (approx. US$88 million) envisaged when the project was announced in 2010.
Taking as its trademark a neo-classical building style, the project has been widely criticised by the architectural community as an extravagance, while its supporters say it will transform the image of a city tainted by decades of dull socialist architecture.
Source: BIRN
