The Minister of Environment and Physical Planning, Kaja Shukova, the UNDP Resident Representative for the Republic of North Macedonia, Armen Grigoryan and the mayor of the municipality of Jegunovce, Dimitar Kostadinoski, were today on a field visit to the location in the village of Tudence, where the works for rehabilitation and regulation of the bed of the upper course of the Vardar river in the municipality of Jegunovce begin.
In her speech, Minister Shukova emphasized that the Polog region is an area that is extremely vulnerable to weather disasters, such as floods, which very often have catastrophic consequences for the residents.
- For that reason, applying an integrated approach with the support and cooperation of all involved parties such as donors, the government, local government and communities, we help communities in increasing their resistance to such natural disasters – she emphasized, pointing out that the rehabilitation of riverbeds, above all, implies cleaning the natural bed of construction debris, communal and bulky waste as well as vegetation from the bed itself that obstructs the flow of the river.
The Resident Representative of the United Nations Development Program in North Macedonia, Armen Grigoryan, assessed that the floods in the upper reaches of the Vardar, in the municipality of Jegunovce, are a frequent threat to the homes and agricultural property of the inhabitants of the villages in this region, which was also confirmed in during the month of June, when the river overflowed and flooded twice.
- About 3.000 inhabitants of the municipality of Jegunovce and about 10.000 inhabitants of the city of Gostivar will directly benefit from this intervention, through the strengthening of resilience and the reduction of flood risks – said Grigoryan.
The project “Improving flood resistance in the Polog region”, within the framework of which activities for the rehabilitation and regulation of the bed of the upper course of the Vardar river, will be implemented in two location, in the municipality of Jegunovce, as well as in the municipality of Gostivar, in total length of 17.2 kilometers and stabilization of the 12 most critical river sections with a total length of 1.8 kilometers.
The project is part of the wider Program for Reducing Threats and Risks from Natural Disasters, primarily from Floods in the Polog region and its aim is to encourage transformational change in flood risk management in the region, which will improve overall flood resilience in the Polog region and will help align the flood management system at the country level with the EU an other modern concepts and approaches.For the realization of these two interventions, Switzerland through the two agencies: the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) and the State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO) for the intervention of the rivers Vardar Gostivar and Vardar Jegunovce allocated 1.5 million dollars, and the contribution of the Ministry of Environment and Physical Planning is 220 thousand dollars. The project is implemented in partnership with UNDP.