site.btaNorth Macedonia’s Minister for Local Self-Government Launches Construction of Klepalo Border Checkpoint

The Minister for Local Self-Government of North Macedonia Zlatko Perinski has launched the project for the construction of a new border crossing Strumyani - Berovo (Klepalo), between Bulgaria and North Macedonia, the Ministry announced on its Facebook page.

The project is worth EUR 11.1 million, 7.7 million of which are from the Bulgaria-North Macedonia IPA Cross-border Programme 3 for 2021-2027, and the remaining funds are co-financed by the two countries. 

On his Facebook profile, the Minister wrote that the use of the Klepalo checkpoint will facilitate the traffic of people and goods between the two countries, create conditions for economic growth in the border region and thus allow direct access to the Struma motorway, which is an important part of the trans-European transport network.

"I believe that Klepalo, which has remained a project only on paper for the past three decades, will now become a reality and the ramp of the new border crossing will be erected in November 2029, when the project is due to be completed," Perinski wrote.

The project between Bulgaria and North Macedonia is part of the efforts to develop infrastructure and improve cross-border cooperation between the two countries. The project is the result of an agreement between the governments of Bulgaria and North Macedonia, signed in April 1999, which provides for the opening of new border crossing points, one of which is Strumyani - Berovo.

The project for the construction of the Klepalo checkpoint is a strategic project under the INTERREG programme. The joint expert commission for the definition of the technical parameters of the new checkpoint between Strumyani, in Bulgaria, and Berovo, in North Macedonia, started its work in March 2022. Passenger and freight vehicles of up to 3.5 tonnes will be able to pass through the crossing.