Skopje, 25 October 2024 (MIA) – Transport Minister Aleksandar Nikoloski has announced that a dialogue with Bulgaria has started over the construction of a Corridor 8 railway. Bulgaria has accepted our argumentation and a second dialogue is expected to take place October 31, he said.

“Since Bulgaria has finally accepted our argumentation, one dialogue already took place in Brussels with representatives from the two countries, the second one will be held on October 31 in Sofia. If we should meet again, the third dialogue will take place in Skopje. We are open to finding a joint solution,” Nikoloski said speaking at a news conference Friday.

The railway will make sense only if it is built on both sides of the border, according to him.

“What I’d been saying for months, I know in the beginning it was unpopular, but it was confirmed by the Bulgarian transport minister after saying they do not have a project, they would finish it by 2026 and complete it by 2030. When I said that the tender, which I’d revoked, envisaged the project to be completed in four years, I was also asking what are we going to do. If we had signed the tender in October 2024, it should have been completed in October 2028, whereas Bulgaria has announced it will work [on it] by 2030,” the Minister stated. 

There will be railway with Bulgaria, as he said “when with Bulgaria we will agree that we’re going to complete the railway together, because the goal is for Skopje and Sofia to be connected and the price to be revised.”

560 million euros for a 24-kilometer railway is way too expensive, Nikoloski stressed. “High-speed rail can be built for 10-12 million euros per kilometer. In this case, a low-speed rail, 60-80 km per hour, for 24 million euros – this cannot be allowed,” he emphasized.

Representatives from North Macedonia and Bulgaria in a meeting in Brussels earlier this month agreed to do a tunnel breakthrough on Corridor 8 together, considered a key condition to implement the project.