There is no archive that can find all the promises of dormitories construction and modernization, but these phrases, followed by sums of millions, have easily come out of the mouths of student-focused politicians over the last decade. But figures show that year after year the promises of the authorities end in catastrophic failures.
In almost every budget preparing, public money intended to improve the state of Macedonian dormitories is mis-projected. Radio MOF has reviewed items intended for the construction and reconstruction of dormitories from the Budget and the Final Accounts of the Budget for the last 10 years. The data show that the difference between the planned and spent money for this purpose is almost 500 million denars less.
In a decade, initially planned budgets for the construction and reconstruction of student dormitories exceed the amount of billions of denars, while the overall realization of this development program, which falls under the competence of the Ministry of Education and Science (MES), according to the final accounts, is just over 500 million denars.
As the budget is proposed by the executive branch and approved by the Parliament, it means that these two institutions each year have “made a mistake” on average of 50 million denars for investment in student dormitories.
If we translate this into a slightly freer language, the authorities have “lied” about 8 million euros investments in student dormitories for one decade.
The “mistakes” vary over the years. In total, the biggest budgets were those from 2017 and 2018, when more than 400 million denars were projected to exceed the dormitory investments. While the largest percent “mistakes” are in the budgets of 2011 and 2009, when only 5 and 9 percent of the funds were marked for that purpose.
Only in two of the last ten years there have been more budget expenditures on rebuilding student dormitories in North Macedonia. That is, 2012, when 7 million denars were spent more than the originally anticipated and 2015 when twice more money was spent than the originally anticipated.
Dormitories were promised as a joke
These disparities between planned and realized can most easily be explained through the false promises of politicians from whom Macedonian students saw little in reality.
Last government announced concrete promissess for new dormitories at the end of 2015. The then Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski announced the construction of three new student dormitories, two in Skopje, on the site of the former barracks “Nevena Georgieva Dunja” (Medicinar), as well as near the “Boris Trajkovski” Sports Center and a student dormitory in Tetovo.
These promises were never realized, and while the 2016 Dormitory Investment Budget is well-executed, the underperformance is enormous in 2017 and 2018 when the initial budgets are completely missed.
It should be noted that the Budget of 2017, which “missed” 250 million euros, was proposed and adopted by the majority led by VMRO-DPMNE, while the Budget of 2018, where it was “missed” by 170 million euros, is a product of the parliamentary majority led by SDSM. This only shows that both ruling sets have made overwhelming and apparently unrealistic promises of dormitories.
These big budget failures in the last two years MES justifies it with the political situation and the changes that have taken place in the country.
“In the past two years there have been concessions to the implementation of what was planned, first in 2017 due to the political situation and the change of government structure. The de facto appointment and staffing of management in each ministry, including the MES, has had the effect of delaying the implementation of certain activities envisaged. While in 2018, the percentage utilization of the projected budget is higher than in the previous year,” says the Ministry for Radio MOF.
At the same time, the underperformance of the planned investments can be seen through the slow reconstruction of the largest dormitory “Goce Delchev” in Skopje, where most of the MES budget was allocated for dormitories investments. The reconstruction, after several years of promises, began in 2014 and, according to initial announcements by the authorities, should be completed by the end of 2016 or early 2017. The reality is that, almost three years after this date, blocks “C” and “G” are still closed to students.
But besides the past government, the current government has also promised an ambitious plan for investment in student housing. The Govrnment Program has promised a student town in Skopje with gymnasiums, reading rooms, libraries, restaurants, movie theaters and fitness centers. In addition, a new student building in Avtokomanda through public-private partnerships, university campuses in Bitola, Stip and Tetovo, as well as increased capacity of existing homes were also promised.
Former Deputy Minister of Education Petar Atanasov, in the campaign for the 2016 parliamentary elections, as SDSM representative, promissed that the new Government would build a new modern student dormitory in Stip with capacity of 300 beds by the end of 2017.
In a recent statement on the topic of student dormitories, Prime Minister Zoran Zaev, answering a parliamentary question, praised the renovation of four buildings of the Goce Delchev Dormitory and that most of the reconstruction of the dormitory is expected to be completed this summer: the two buildings of the dormitory “Stiv Naumov”, the cafeteria in the dormitory “Kuzman”, and also funds envisaged for other projects.
“30 million denars have been allocated for project documentation for student towns and university towns in Skopje and other cities. The Tetovo Dormitory is already under construction. With the project documentation for the student town in Skopje and the university cities in the country I believe that by the end of this year or the beginning of next year we will be able to start concrete procedures for their execution, ” said Zaev at the session held on May 30.
Out of the 20 public procurements, 5 are for the MES fleet
In our annual public procurement plans, which we requested from the MES, we noticed that most of the dormitory purchases were seriously delayed according to the planned deadlines.
On the website of the Public Procurement Bureau of the MES Public Procurement Plan there are currently only 3 of the 11 procedures for student dormitories open. All three of them started with delays.
The process of buying dormitory furniture began in June, which, according to the Ministry’s Plan, was due to start in March. The tender procedure for internet services for schools and dormitories began in April and was due to start in February. The tender procedure for remediation of the tracks in the complex of Goce Delcev Dormitory in Skopje has also started relatively recently. It was open in June instead of May.
But for the rest of the Public Procurement Plan there is no data from the Public Procurement Bureau. This includes the tender for the renovation of the canteen in Goce Delchev Dormitory with an estimated value of 27 million denars, due to start in April, as well as the procedures for preparation of technical documentation and audit for the renovation of the buildings in Stiv Naumov Dormitory and construction of a new dormitory that was supposed to start in March and April.
Interestingly, the renovation of the canteen in Goce Delchev Dormitory and the documentation for the renovation of Stiv Naumov Dormitory buildings also appear in the MES Public Procurement Plan for 2018, so these procedures are over a year and a half late.
“The current leadership is making every effort to make the most of the resources available to improve student dormitories. We are informing you that the public procurement for arrangement of the floor in the Goce Delchev Dormitory is currently in the final phase, while the procurement for reconstruction of the canteen will be announced in the following period. In this dormitory, the activities for complete reconstruction of the blocks “C” and “D” have also recently been completed, and there is an ongoing public procurement for their furnishing. Regarding the procedure for reconstruction of the facilities within the dormitory Stiv Naumov Dormitory, it is first necessary to complete the court procedure (pending decision of the Court of Appeal), i.e. to resolve the long-standing dispute that the Ministry of Education and Science has with the contractor of construction activities in these buildings in the past. Activities in Tetovo have begun for the construction of a student dormitory for the needs of the state-run university there,” the Ministry of Education and Science responded to our question about the reasons for the delayed planned public procurement.
The Ministry added that with the recent amendment to the Law on Student Standards, state student dormitories this year received additional funding, beyond planned, for smooth operation.
And while most tenders are late, the MES fleet is regularly taken into account. Of the 20 contracts that the Ministry has made since the beginning of this year, which are published on the Public Procurement Bureau’s website, 5 are for the procurement of fuel, tires and car services, technical inspection, car wash and maintenance.
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According to the latest data from the State Statistical Office, in 2018/2019 4,329 students were accommodated in dormitories, a decrease of 6% compared to the 2017/2018 academic year, when 4,613 students were staying in public accommodation.
If we look for the reason why there were 300 students less than last year in the 13 student dormitories across the country, perhaps the false promises are a good start to this quest.
Daniel Evrosimoski
* The story is published as part of the project: “Student Dormitories without Corruption”. The project is funded by the Foundation Open Society – Macedonia. The content is the sole responsibility of the authors and the grantees, and can in no way be taken to reflect the views and positions of the Open Society – Macedonia Foundation.
Source: Радио МОФ
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6 August 2019