Skopje, 9 April 2024 (MIA) — Law enforcement authorities should urgently investigate the reasons for the Universal Hall fire and if it was caused by the unsafe construction works we warned about, the institutions should hold people accountable, the City of Skopje said in a press release after one of the domes of the Universal Hall broke out in flames on Tuesday morning.

Thanks to the quick response by the Skopje Fire Department, the fire has been put under control. Before the fire erupted, renovations were under way.

"Over the past two years, we have been publicly saying that the project for the Universal Hall, which had been donated to the previous city management and which they worked on until the 2021 local elections, is faulty and unsafe, and that the construction is contrary to the project and that it can neither be continued nor built. For two years we have been attacked for saying this publicly," the release says.

The City of Skopje adds that they refused to sign off on any Universal Hall renovation works unless a new project was submitted and planned construction activities were seriously revised.

The release recalls that the Ministry of Culture, at a July 2023 session, decided to take over the project of the Universal Hall reconstruction.

"A few months later, the Universal Hall is mysteriously on fire," the release says. 

"The Universal Hall belongs to the people of Skopje and Macedonia, and someone is trying to cover up what they did, which we have been saying publicly for two years and have been attacked for it by the centers of power and money."

The Crisis Management Center said the cause of the fire had yet to be determined. mr/