Skopje Still Waiting on Long-Promised Lepenec Riverside Mega-Park
The mayor's six-month deadline has passed, even though the city has already set aside funding for the project.
Construction of the announced mega-park along the Lepenec riverbank still has not begun, despite a campaign pledge from Skopje mayor Orce Gjorgjievski that work would start within his first six months in office. "When it comes to projects for Karpos, I want to highlight the Lepenec mega-park... in the first six months we will begin construction," Gjorgjievski told residents of Karpos on 8 October last year.
The project envisions more than 300,000 square metres of green space along the Lepenec, between Bardovci, Zlokukjani and Dame Gruev — the city's first park designed to link several Skopje municipalities. The city has already earmarked 100 million denars for "Lepenec Mega Park and 50 small neighbourhood parks," and some maintenance work is under way on site, but without any real start to actual construction.
A Gap, Not a Park
Skopje has long lacked finished green riverside space, and the Lepenec is precisely that line between neighbourhoods and infrastructure. When a start date slips with no new, publicly announced timeline, residents see a gap where a park was promised. Neither the city nor a contractor has explained why work has stalled — whether a valid permit, a chosen contractor or a specific 2026 budget line is still missing remains an open question.
MKNews Hub · Macedonia · September 12, 2026