The Planning Process throughout institutions

RETROSPECTION OF SPATIAL PLANNING

Spatial planning in the Republic of Macedonia has been institutionalized in 1970, when the Assembly of the then, Socialist Republic of Macedonia decided “that the need of giving the social planning its own spatial dimension is well founded”. For the purpose of professional implementation of this conclusion, the following relevant institutions have been established in the following chronology:

1970 – Directorate for Spatial Planning – Ohrid;

1973 – Working Unit in the City of Skopje, as part of the Directorate;

1979 – Transformation of the Directorate into an Institute for Spatial Planning – Ohrid, with a Working Unit in Skopje;

1988 – Change of Institute headquarters location and its name into Institute for Spatial Planning – Skopje, with a Working Unit in Ohrid;

1991 – The Institute of Spatial Planning ceases its operations.

During thistwenty-year period, spatial plans were being extensively developed in order to cover the entire territory of the then, Socialist Republic of Macedonia. A total of 7 regional and 29 municipal spatial plans were developed (the only municipality that a spatial plan was not developed for was the City of Negotino).

The re-establishment of the spatial planning system in the independent Republic of Macedonia had began with the adoption of the “Program for development and adoption of the Spatial Plan of the Republic of Macedonia by the Government and the Assembly of the Republic of Macedonia” on March 22, 1995 year, and its publication in the “Official Gazette of RM” no. 17, on March 28, 1995.

The key institution was the Ministry of Urban Planning, Construction, Transporttation and Ecology which entrusted the development of spatial plans to the Public Enterprise for Spatial and Urban Planning, where a Team of Experts was established.

With the adoption of amendments to the Law on Public Administration in 2000, the competence for spatial planning was transferred to the Ministry of Environment and Spatial Planning, whereas the urban planning was transferred to the Ministry of Transport and Communications.

The Public Enterprise for Spatial and Urban Planning had been operating by the beginning of 2005 when, in accordance with the Law on Spatial and Urban Planning, the Agency for Spatial Planning was established – a professional institution in charge of developing and monitoring the implementation of the Spatial Plans of the Republic of Macedonia.

The Agency for Spatial Planning has been established by the Law on Spatial and Urban Planning (“Official Gazette of RM”, no. 51/05) as an independent legal entity.
The primary activity of the Agency is development and participation in the development of several strategical documents, especially those which are part of the programe of the Government of the Republic of Macedonia.

Although the Agency for Spatial Planning has been established more recentely, its operation is considered a continuation of the operation of the Public Enterprise for Spatial and Urban Planning, which has been active since 1996 year.

The Agency today

The Agency for Spatial Planning is in charge of implementing the general planning policies and the overall spatial policy of the Republic of N.Macedonia.

In accordance with Article 74 of the Law on Urban Planning, (“Official Gazette of the Republic of North Macedonia” no. 32/2020) the Agency performs the following activities:

• develops a Spatial Plan of the Republic of North Macedonia (hereinafter: Spatial Plan);
• implements and elaborates in detail the Spatial Plan by preparing Spatial Plans for specific regions, Spatial Plans for areas of special interest and Spatial Plans for the municipalities, for the municipalities of the City of Skopje and the General Plan of the City of Skopje;
• constructs, maintains, updates and operates the single geo-referenced spatial information system for spatial and urban planning in the country;
• monitors the implementation of the Spatial Plan;
• creates documentation related to the current spatial aspects required for the pre-planning process;
• developes the General Urban Plans for the city and makes revisions of the General Urban Plans of wide urban areas densly populated, of denser and more complex physical structures, of complex and densely built downtown areas, historic city cores, monuments and other parts of the cities that are of vital importance;
• developes plans which are part of the Annual program for financing the development of urban plans of the the Government of the Republic of North Macedonia under Article 41 of this Law;
• performes other duties as defined by this Law and by the Statute of the Agency.

The working organization of the Agency is consisted of the Board of Directors and the Director.

The Agency is managed by a Managing Board which consists of seven members: two representatives of the state administration body in charge of performing activities in the field of physical planning, two representatives of the state administration in charge of performing activities in the field of spatial planning, two representatives of the Agency and one external member.

As a result of the restructuring process, six limited liability companies have been established with urban planning as their primary business activity. They are dispersed in several locations throughout the Republic of North Macedonia, and they operate independently, as separate legal entities, in which the Agency for Spatial Planning has a dominant partner share. The six limited liability companies are the following:

• TEPLAN – Tetovo;
• GOPLAN – Gostivar;
• URBANISM – Bitola;;
• URBAN – Stip;
• URBANGIS – Kumanovo.

Directors

Directors and Deputy Directos of the Public Enterprise – Institute for Spatial Planning since its establishment to present day.