The design of the State Automatic Ambient Air Quality Monitoring System began in 1997 with the Project: "Study on an Air Quality Monitoring System in the Republic of Macedonia", implemented through JICA (Japan International Cooperation Agency), as the donor of the entire grant in the amount of 2.7 million US dollars.
The study covered the territory of the country and a detailed plan was made for the establishment of an ambient air quality monitoring system
1998
2002
In December 2002, three monitoring stations were installed, one each in Kocani, Kumanovo and Kichevo, and 3 high-volume samplers for measuring suspended particles up to ten micrometers in size. The software in the central station was also changed, to which data from all stations arrives every hour via telephone modem connection. This equipment was a donation of 350,000 euros from the European Union as part of the PHARE COP '99 program.
2004
In May 2004, 6 more monitoring stations for ambient air quality were received, one mobile station and one station for monitoring traffic pollution. These stations were installed, 2 in Veles, 2 in Bitola and one in Tetovo and the village of Lazaropole as a rural background station.
2005
In April 2005, the mobile station was installed in Kavadarci, while the Rectorate station for monitoring traffic pollution was installed in Skopje, in the courtyard of the Rectorate of the University "St. Cyril and Methodius", opposite the Palace of Justice. As part of this donation, 6 low and 1 high volume samplers for measuring suspended particles with a size of up to 10 micrometers were also received, an off-road vehicle for system maintenance, a complete calibration laboratory located within the Central Environmental Laboratory, a spare set of analyzers and two digital scales with a precision of 10-4 and 10-6. At the same time, all analyzers in the Skopje stations were changed, which practically completely repaired them and unified them with the rest of the equipment from the stations throughout the Republic of Macedonia. The donation amounted to 1.1 million EURO from the CARDS 2001 Program.
2008
In accordance with the Memorandum of Cooperation signed on 25.11.2008 between the Ministry of Environment and Physical Planning, the Municipality of Ilinden and the Coordination Body of the settlements around the OKTA Refinery, and in order to fulfill the obligation undertaken by the Ministry of Environment and Physical Planning, 2 monitoring stations from SAAQMS were relocated as an emergency procedure. Namely, the expert team at the Ministry of Environment and Physical Planning decided to temporarily relocate the monitoring stations Karposh and Centar and place them at two selected locations. One monitoring station was placed in the yard of the "Braka Miladinovci" school in the village of Miladinovci, and the other in the village of Mrshevci. These two locations were selected according to the wind rose determined by the Directorate for Hydrometeorological Affairs.
At the same time, the relocation of the two monitoring stations from Karposh IV and Centar left a gap in identifying ambient air quality, especially in the western part of Skopje.
2011
Within the framework of the EU IPA TAIB 2008 procurement project, from the IPA 2008 program in the amount of 329,000.00 Euros, two automatic ambient air quality monitoring stations were purchased and installed in Centar (at the intersection of Vodnjanska and Vasil Gjorgov streets) and in Karposh (at the Petar Pop Arsov Primary School).
Within the same project, a new integrated air quality management system, Airviro, was purchased in the amount of 131,000.00 Euros, which improved the method of collecting data from the measurements performed by the Automatic Monitoring Stations, enabled preliminary automatic validation of the data, modeling tools, an emission database, and preparation of daily, monthly and annual reports. At the same time, a web portal was created and developed on which the on-line data from the measurements performed are published. The link to the web portal is as follows: www.air.moepp.gov.mk.
In addition to real-time air quality data, the web portal continuously publishes exceedances of limit values, legal legislation, daily, monthly and annual reports, air planning documents, as well as news.
2017
Through the EU IPA TAIB 2012 – 2013 equipment procurement project, in 2017 the MoEPP received a new service vehicle and new measuring equipment with which part of the instruments from three monitoring stations in Tetovo, Kumanovo and Bitola 2 were replaced. Within the framework of this Project, a mobile station was also purchased and was installed in the Municipality of Butel from February 2018 to June 2019 and from June 2019 in the Municipality of Gjorce Petrov.
2018
At the beginning of 2018, the automatic ambient air quality monitoring stations from the village of Mrševci and Veles 1 UZUS, given that since the moment of their installation, significant changes have occurred in the dominant sources of pollution (cessation of the operation of the OKTA refinery and the Veles smelter) and given the fact that the monitoring station installed in the village of Miladinovci remains in operation near OKTA, and the monitoring station Veles 2 remains in operation in Veles, they were relocated and installed in the Municipality of Gostivar and the Municipality of Strumica, in order to assess air quality and complete the monitoring system.
2019
In August 2019, one PM10 measuring instrument was replaced with a new one and installed in Gazi Baba, and by the end of 2019, 5 more PM10 measuring instruments were replaced and installed in Gostivar, Kichevo, Lisice, Veles and Kavadarci.
2020
In 2020, 7 O₃ instruments installed in Lisice, Gazi Baba, Rectorate, Kocani, Kavadarci, Kicevo and Gostivar were replaced with the budget of the Ministry of Environment and Public Health; 7 SO₂ instruments installed in Gazi Baba, Kumanovo, Bitola 2, Kavadarci, Kicevo and Gostivar; 7 SO instruments installed in Rectorate, Kumanovo, Bitola 2, Kavadarci, Kicevo and Gostivar and 2 PM2.5 instruments installed in Lisice and Gazi Baba. With financial funds from the IPA program for cooperation between North Macedonia and the Greece, a new station was purchased in Gevgelija and all instruments were replaced with new ones in the Bitola 1 monitoring station.
2021
In 2021, 2 new monitoring stations were purchased from the budget of the Ministry of Environment and Physical Planning located in Prilep and Berovo. New instruments were also purchased, namely one O₃ instrument installed in Veles 2, 4 SO₂ instruments installed in Miladinovci, Kochani, Strumica and Veles 2; 3 CO instruments installed in Miladinovci, Kochani and Strumica.
In 2021, within the framework of a project funded by Sweden, new instruments were also purchased, namely 8 NOx instruments installed in the Rectorate, Miladinovci, Kochani, Strumica, Veles 2, Kavadarci, Gostivar and Kichevo; 2 O₃ instruments installed in Miladinovci and Strumica; 4 PM10 instruments installed in the Rectorate, Miladinovci, Kochani and Strumica and 8 PM2.5 instruments installed in the Rectorate, Miladinovci, Kochani, Strumica, Veles 2, Kavadarci, Gostivar and Kichevo.
2022
In 2022, 1 new monitoring station was purchased from the budget of the Ministry of Environment and Physical Planning and was installed in Ohrid.
2024
In 2024, 27 new automatic measuring instruments for monitoring the concentrations of O₃, NO/NO₂/NOx, SO₂, CO, PM10 and PM2.5 were purchased through the IPA 2 project, further 2 low-volume sequential samplers for monitoring the concentrations of PM10/ PM2.5/ PM1, together with 1 high-volume sequential sampler for monitoring the concentrations of PM10/ PM2.5, as well as 7 sets of meteorological sensors.
With this procurement, all measuring instruments from the automatic monitoring stations Centar, Karposh and Lazaropole were replaced, with an additional automatic measuring instrument for monitoring PM2.5 being installed at the Lazaropole measuring site. At the Lisice measuring point, the automatic measuring instruments for monitoring CO and NO/NO₂/NOx were replaced, at the Gazi Baba measuring point, the automatic measuring instrument for monitoring NO/NO₂/NOx was replaced, while at the Veles measuring point, the automatic measuring instrument for monitoring CO was replaced. At the same time, with this procurement, one spare set of automatic measuring instruments for monitoring each of the polluting parameters was provided.
2025
In 2025, 1 new monitoring station was purchased from the budget of the Ministry of Environment and Public Health and was installed in Shtip.
Through the IPA 3 project "EU FOR CLEAN AIR" in cooperation with UNOPS, Automatic measuring instruments for continuous monitoring of Benzene (BTEX), installed in Centar, Karposh and Tetovo, Inductively Coupled Plasma–Mass Spectrometry (ICP MS), intended for determining the concentrations of heavy metals in the air and Microanalytical balance for measuring filters with a readability of at least 1 microgram with a compatible antistatic ionizer, were purchased.
