site.btaUPDATED North Macedonia's PM Mickoski Says Previous Government Took Loan for Railway Leading to Dead-End Tunnel

North Macedonia's Prime Minister Hristijan Mickoski told Telma TV that Skopje's plan for the funding from the EU's Growth Plan for the Western Balkans was prepared two weeks ago and the country is awaiting approval from the European Commission.

In his words, some of the projects launched by the previous government of the Republic of North Macedonia cannot be implemented. One such project is a railway linking the country with Bulgaria, part of Pan-European Transport Corridor 8, which he said "ends in a dead end, in a semi-tunnel, with an unforeseeable future as to how it will reach the Black Sea, and penalties that could amount to EUR 750 million".

"I have asked them to spend the money on the modernization of the railway of Corridor 10 so that trains can run at 100 km/h instead of 30 km/h, and to have the budget of state company Macedonian Railways - Infrastructure increased threefold instead of being reduced threefold. Instead of having one roadworthy locomotive, we would be able to buy five new locomotives and have more trains running through the country," said Mickoski.

The road corridor would connect the Adriatic Sea with the Black Sea through Albania, Macedonia and Bulgaria. There are no connections yet at the western end (from Kicevo in North Macedonia to the border with Albania) and at the eastern end (from Kumanovo to the border with Bulgaria).

Transport  Minister Aleksandar Nikoloski also said in a recent interview he would talk with the donors that the funding for Corridor 8 be transferred to Corridor 10, which is to link Austria, Slovenia, Croatia, Serbia, North Macedonia and Hungary with Greece.

The eastern part of Corridor 8 railway (88.2 km) in North Macedonia's territory, which is to connect it with Bulgaria, is to be funded with a pre-accession grant from the EU's Western Balkans Investment Framework and two loans from the EBRD and the EIB. The tender procedure ended in the last week of June.

The 34 km stretch between Beljakovce and Kriva Palanka is financed with an EU grant of EUR 75 million from the Western Balkans Investment Framework and national co-financing.

The project is not on the agenda of the new government of North Macedonia, but the report of the state audit institution says the planning and preparation of its third phase "is too time-consuming and there is a big risk of loss of grants from the Instrument for Pre-Accession Assistance to the amount of EUR 60,765,000 and future fiscal implications due to the need to secure additional funds from the state budget".