Skopje, 12 November 2025 (MIA) – We announced this morning that we are working on the Kriva Palanka bypass, which is the final section of building connection with Bulgaria. The Deve Bair is being reconstructed, the first stage is under way, Deputy Prime Minister and Transport Minister Aleksandar Nikoloski said Wednesday when asked about the country’s investments in road infrastructure and construction of Corridors 8 and 10d.

“I hope a similar activity will be made by them following our activity towards neighbouring Bulgaria. The Bulgarian deputy prime minister and transport minister announced after we signed an agreement for Corridor 8 railway that they will work on a highway toward Deve Bair. I think it is very important since it will cut down travel time between Skopje and Sofia,” he said mentioning that an expressway from Stracin to Kriva Palanka was put in service. 

According to him, a solution for the section from Romanovce, the exit from Kumanovo to Stracin, is in the pipeline.

“We’re working on a solution together with the EU as part of the Growth Plan and I hope together we will succeed with the funds available. There is already a highway from Kumanovo to Skopje, and a bypass in Skopje, which is in a poor state unfortunately. It will be reconstructed. In the western part of Corridor 8 a highway from Tetovo to Gostivar will be built,” stated Nikoloski. 

Work is also underway on the connection of the two highways between Bukojcani and Kichevo, he added.

“We’ll work on this project together with the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development. I hope that by January we will select a contractor and depending on the weather conditions in March-April works will be launched. The part from Kichevo to Ohrid remains. The first 37 kilometres have been completed, of which 34 are in operation. I expect more kilometres to be put into operation in the first half of December, as I said, to complete the entire highway by the end of next year,” says Nikoloski.

The transport minister also told reporters a contractor is being picked for the highway from Skopje to Blace toward Kosovo. 

“We’re completing the entire Corridor 8, and on the other hand, , there is also Corridor 10d - connected to Corridor 10 or E-75 - which goes from Skopje-Veles-Gradsko-Prilep-Bitola down to Florina ending in Athens. There are serious activities on in Greece, and here, we are working on the largest highway that has ever been built in Macedonia as a single section, which is the highway from Prilep to Bitola, that is 40 kilometres long. I’d like to announce that we are seriously working on the section from Prilep to Farish, to solve it and have an expressway or highway here, and from Farish to Drenovo, to Gradsko, we already launched it in the first half of the year, as an expressway,” stated Nikoloski. 

Photo: MIA