Macedonia builds Corridor 8

The Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finances, Zoran Stavrevski, declared for the media that the Macedonian Government has received from the EBRD a 46.4 million EUR low interest loan, which will enable the rehabilitation of Corridor 8 towards Bulgaria.

The construction is expected to start in the first trimester of 2013, and will end for three or four years. The tender will be held in September, as soon as the EBRD loan will pass in Parliament.

Stavreski confirmed that in the meanwhile they are working for the western part of the railway, from Kercova to the border with Albania.

Corridor 8 was an initiative of the former US President, Bill Clinton, who aimed the construction of a complex network of railways and highways, together with pipelines of oil and gas that would link the Bulgarian Black Sea ports with the Adriatic Port, through Macedonia.

This corridor was considered as one of the most important commercial projects of the region, but it has remained on paper for many years. Many experts still remain sceptical.

A few days earlier, in the meeting of the Black Sea Organization for Economic Cooperation, Prime Minister Berisha appealed Macedonia and Bulgaria to engage with the construction of the project, promising that Albania would do its part.

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