Skopje, 5 June 2023 (MIA) - State Roads public enterprise director Ejup Rustemi vouched Monday that the construction of the 110km-long motorways along Corridor VIII and Xd would be completed in four years and seven months, considering the new design and construction concept incorporated in the Bechtel-Enka agreement.

Rustemi said the road construction model has been changed due to the long delays in the processes of building infrastructure projects, some lasting more than a decade.

"This is a new concept we have agreed with Bechtel-Enka - the red FIDIC - which deadline is four years and seven months for 110km of motorways. According to the concept, a number of activities will take place in parallel. We have already started with the geomechanical testing, expropriation documents are being drafted, along with the design and mobilization of the construction machinery. All these activities are developing in parallel and we guarantee that the motorways will be completed in four years and seven months," Rustemi told reporters.

The State Roads director was accompanied by Prime Minister Dimitar Kovachevski and Minister of Transport and Communications Blagoj Bochvarski in the inspection of the construction works on road section Demir Kapija-Negotino.

"This is the largest infrastructure project in North Macedonia to date, connecting the country to the region and Europe, built in line with the latest global road infrastructure design standards. Besides the Thessaloniki port, we will now connect with the Burgas (Bulgaria) and Durres (Albania) ports. The EU decision to include Corridor VIII in the map of EU's main corridors has made the country a regional crossroad," said PM Kovachevski.

He reiterated that the project would open 8,000 jobs, investments in the amount of EUR 1.3 billion and an annual nominal GDP growth of two percent.

Photo: Government