site.btaSkopje Sets Priority on Rail Corridor 10, New Project Needed for Rail Link with Bulgaria

The development of the transport sector in the Western Balkans was discussed at a working dinner of the transport ministers of North Macedonia, Belgium, Malta, Greece, Germany and Cyprus in Budapest, North Macedonia's Transport Ministry said.

Aleksandar Nikoloski, Deputy Prime Minister and Transport Minister of the Republic of North Macedonia, is in Budapest on Thursday and Friday for an informal meeting of the EU transport ministers organized by Hungary, which is holding the rotating EU Council Presidency. Also participating are the transport ministers of the Western Balkan countries, the European Free Trade Association, Ukraine, Moldova and Georgia and representatives of the EU institutions.

Nikoloski presented North Macedonia's priorities "with a special focus on the construction of a high-speed railway along Corridor 10 (connecting Austria, Slovenia, Croatia, Serbia, North Macedonia and Hungary with Greece), as well as transport and trade facilitation among the countries of the Western Balkans," the Transport Ministry in Skopje said. It specified that "the importance of the construction of Corridor 8" (linking Italy, Albania, North Macedonia and Bulgaria) was also stressed  at the meeting.

Interviewed by Kanal 5 TV before his departure for Budapest, Nikoloski said his "top priority is the construction of the high-speed railway along Corridor 10, which will take [North] Macedonia into the future and will boost its economic development".

In the interview which was broadcast on Thursday evening, Nikoloski said the project which dates back to 1978 was not implemented "probably because of the break-up of Yugoslavia". In his view, this project will cost the country less than the railway to Bulgaria.

Nikoloski specified that the tendering procedure for the construction of Phase 3 of the railway to Bulgaria had been suspended because the project is unfeasible "and because of attempted corruption". In his words, the railway, part of Corridor 8, should be built, but a new project is needed because this one is "expensive and unfeasible". North Macedonia's Transport Minister said that he was not against building a railway to Bulgaria, but it would not be built on an unfeasible and overly expensive route, and that a new project should be designed.

He suggested other options, such as from Shtip to Delchevo to the Bulgarian border, or from Shtip to Radovis, Strumica, Novo Selo and the border with Bulgaria This would connect the whole eastern part of North Macedonia by rail. "And I guarantee that these two options, which are much longer than the 24 km from Kriva Palanka to the border with Bulgaria, will be much cheaper," Nikoloski said.

Shortly after taking over as Transport Minister, Nikoloski said that Corridor 10 is a priority and the funds for the construction of Corridor 8 should be repurposed for it. 

On Friday, Nikoloski is scheduled to meet with the transport ministers of Greece, Serbia, Hungary and Austria. The talks will focus on the construction of Corridor 10, North Macedonia's Transport Ministry said.