Some of Skopje’s main industrial facilities, such as the OKTA crude oil refinery and the metal factory, Makstil, have been ordered to halt production because of pollution concerns, the Ministry of Health said.

The halt was ordered as Skopje entered a seventh day of severe air pollution.

Inspectors have also been dispatched to monitor air pollution produced by smaller factories.

“Those companies where we have identified increased pollution have been instructed to halt work and reduce the factors that cause pollution,” the Mayor of Skopje, Koce Trajanovski, said.

For the seventh day in a row, air pollution measured in terms of PM10 particles was very high in all parts of the capital.

In some areas, levels measured by the Ministry of Environment reached 180 micrograms per cubic meter on Monday, almost four times the maximum accepted level of 50. In other areas it amounted to 90.

Last week levels in some parts of the city reached 500 micrograms.

PM10 particles are small breathable specks that are considered one of the worst air polluters. Due to their small size they can penetrate the lungs and are known to cause cancer and other respiratory diseases.

The level of Carbon Dioxide, CO2 in some areas is twelve times the maximum accepted level, measurments show.

As a result, this weekend the authorities warned residents to limit going out and restrict their driving.

The authorities say that if air pollution continues at this level for more than ten days, they will consider declaring an emergency.

“What we have now is a result of many factors that have piled up over many years,” Health Minister Nikola Todorov said.

Apart from industry, he blamed pollution on the fact that the nearly half of all households in Skopje still use wood or fossil fuels for heating over the winter.

“The way out is gas power. The government has already done a study for Skopje and I hope we will issue a tender for the gasification of Skopje in January,” Todorov said.

The Health Ministry in November said it would bring charges against company bosses whose factories pollute the environment. Penalties will range from four to 10 years in jail, the minister then said.

To catch perpetrators red-handed, ministry staff said they had obtained new equipment to measure air pollution and direct them to the source.

The government has rejected industry demands to postpone the legal deadline to equip big pollutants with filters from 2014 to 2019.

The pollution issue has also taken on a political tone, with the opposition Social Democrats blaming the authorities for the worsening problem.

They say the government is taking no significant steps to fight pollution that comes from factories, traffic and the massive construction of buildings in urban areas.

“In the last couple of years Skopje became the most polluted city in Europe… pollution is at a peak, but all the authorities are doing is advising the people to stay home,” the Social Democrat’s vice-president, Radmila Sekerinska, said.