Construction of the Skopje–Blace highway to begin in August, project worth 198.4 million euros

Koce Trajanovski, director of the Public Enterprise for State Roads, announced today that construction of the second section of the Skopje-Blace highway is expected to begin in August, while the works are set to last approximately four years.

According to him, the project will be financed through a grant worth 30.8 million euros and a loan of 167.6 million euros.

Trajanovski explained that the new highway segment will be 10.5 kilometers long, and together with the 1.5 kilometers built earlier, the total length of the highway to the border will reach 12 kilometers.

“The grant is 30.8 million euros, while the credit (loan) is 167.6 million euros. The length of this highway is 10.5 kilometers. Previously, 1.5 kilometers were built, so the total length from the Stenkovec interchange near Skopje to the border is 12 kilometers. These 10.5 kilometers, which are the subject of today’s loan, will have two lanes in each direction with a width of 3.5 meters and a shoulder lane of 2.5 meters. The total width of the road will be 27 meters.”

He stressed that the route passes through hilly and mountainous terrain, as part of the Skopje Black Mountain massif, which makes construction extremely difficult. For this reason, the project includes 5 twin-tube tunnels, with a total length of around 5 kilometers, 9 bridges with a total length of 2.5 kilometers, 11 overpasses, 4 galleries for slope stabilization each 1 kilometer long, as well as 9 retaining walls, which will also serve for slope stabilization.”

“We expect construction to begin in August this year. According to the contract, the construction period is approximately 4 years. The consultant has been selected, the contractor has been selected, while supervision is in the evaluation phase and we expect it to be selected soon,” said Koce Trajanovski, director of the Public Enterprise for State Roads.