Skopje, 26 November 2024 (MIA) - Skopje's Public Transport Enterprise (JSP) received six new eco-friendly buses on Tuesday donated by the European Union through the EU-funded programme “EU4CleanAir”.

“This activity is a part of a EUR 10 million project that will help reduce air pollution, a severe environmental problem we start to feel as soon as the heating season starts, and it has been taking its toll on people’s health for years,” EU Ambassador Michalis Rokas said at the handover ceremony for the buses.

The Ambassador said the project covers the cities of Bitola, Kumanovo, Skopje, and Tetovo, as cities that face the most severe air pollution.

“Transport is responsible for a sizeable amount of carbon emissions we emit into the atmosphere. The solution is to encourage more and more people to regularly use public transport instead of individual cars. To do so, the best thing to do is to make public transport less polluting,” Rokas said.  

The Mayor of the City of Skopje, Danela Arsovska, said the donation is a success for the City of Skopje, expressing hopes that the activity will motivate the councilors in the Skopje City Council to vote for the procurement of 250 eco-friendly buses.

“This is a great success for the City of Skopje and proof that when our city administration isn’t being blocked, it is capable of implementing something that benefits the City of Skopje and the whole country. I hope that with this project we will be able to motivate all stakeholders and the councilors who should vote for an additional 250 eco-friendly buses,” Arsovska said. 

Photo: MIA