DUI: Political order pushed to finish Corridor 10D before elections, Corridor 8 suffers
DUI says resources and machinery have been shifted toward the Prilep–Bitola section (Corridor 10D), hindering work on the NATO‑linked Corridor 8 and demanding immediate transparency.
The Democratic Union for Integration (DUI) has accused the government of skewing construction work in favour of the Prilep–Bitola stretch known as Corridor 10D, saying the shift undermines progress on Corridor 8.
DUI claims that machinery and workers from the joint US–Turkish consortium Bechtel and Enka have been reallocated so that operations on Corridor 10D now run at an "almost 4 to 1" ratio compared with Corridor 8. The party says this happened after a political order to finish Corridor 10D before the next elections.
Party calls for complete transparency
In a statement, the party warned that the government was effectively changing the project’s priorities. "Today the Government is practically changing the priority of the project. The reason? A political order that Corridor 10D be completed by the next spring elections, so the authorities can use it as an election project. If this is confirmed, it is a serious scandal: money, workers and machinery from a state project worth billions of euros are being directed according to the ruling parties' election calendar. But the question is even more serious. Corridor 8 is a strategic NATO corridor, part of the east–west connection from the Adriatic to the Black Sea and the Alliance's southeastern flank," the party said.
DUI added that any deliberate delay of Corridor 8 would have consequences beyond domestic politics and called on authorities to explain who decided on the current allocation and on what basis. "Is this merely electoral misuse of a billion‑euro project, or is someone intentionally slowing a strategic NATO corridor? Who benefits from weakening Corridor 8? At a time when Russia has a direct interest in slowing NATO infrastructure development in the region, any political decision that stalls this project must be examined with the utmost seriousness. We demand immediate and full transparency: how many workers, how much machinery and how much funding are currently engaged on Corridor 10D, and how many on Corridor 8? Who made the decision on this ratio and on what grounds? These answers must not be hidden until after the elections," the party said.
The accusations name the allocation of resources — not the technical contractor — as the central concern, and place the dispute in a wider geopolitical frame because of Corridor 8’s role in NATO connectivity.
Photo: press material from the event
