Skopje, 18 January 2024 (MIA) - Four new irrigation systems - Straishte, Lisiche, Konsko and Pepelishte - covering 13,000 hectares of agriculture land, are to be realized in the coming period.

The investment worth over EUR 100 million will be implemented through the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Water Economy, with 70 percent of the funds provided by the German KfW Development Bank, and the remaining 30 percent allocated from the national budget.

KfW will provide EUR 80 million in loans and EUR 2.8 million in grants supporting farmers and agriculture cooperatives in the areas covered by the hydro-systems.

Prime Minister Dimitar Kovachevski and Minister Ljupcho Nikolovski said prior to Thursday's signing of the agreement with Consulting Engineers Salzgitter (CES) that the four irrigation systems are part of the country's irrigation programme and cover the area along the Vardar river basin.

"The realization of this programme goes in line with our efforts to create a modern agriculture by European standards while solving the decades-long problems of our farmers. The activities include construction, rehabilitation and expansion of the four irrigation systems and building of small hydropower plants at Lisiche and Konsko. These systems will increase the hydro-potential and the volume of agriculture production but also reduce economic losses," said PM Kovachevski.

Minister Nikolovski said irrigation is one of the main pillars of the Government's policies.

"This is the largest capital investment in the water supply field to date, exceeding EUR 100 million. The four systems are part of the North Macedonia irrigation programme and cover the Vardar river basin area. We are continually working on modernization of the irrigation systems, building new and rehabilitating existing ones," said Nikolovski.

In addition, German Ambassador Petra Drexler highlighted the importance of the fight against climate change.

The agreement signed with CES is worth EUR 9.1 million and includes development of designs for the construction of the four systems, preparation of documents, scheduling of the procedure for construction, supervision and implementation. The feasibility studies are already completed, along with the assessment of the environmental impact of the systems.

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