Who will design it and where will the money come from? – Skopje and Sofia back at the table for the joint railway tunnel
Who will prepare the project and where around €70 million will be found are the main questions in negotiations between Skopje and Sofia.
Skopje and Sofia have again sat down at the negotiating table over the question of the tunnel on the railway toward Bulgaria, whose length is estimated at about three kilometres, and agreement is being sought on which side will prepare the design and how funds for construction will be found.
Today in Sofia a Macedonian delegation is present which, together with Bulgarian colleagues, is discussing which country is best placed to prepare the design that will then be used when seeking financing.
There is no exact estimate of the total costs, but according to some rough calculations about €70 million would be needed. Efforts are being made to secure the funds entirely from grants, but those present expressed doubts that this will be easily achievable.
Financial consequences and options
The next meeting on this issue will most likely be in Skopje, and among the topics is combining different sources of financing if grants prove insufficient.
The country has already lost funds from the IPA funds earmarked for completing the railway line toward neighbouring Bulgaria — some €60 million — because the time limit for the start of construction had passed. To make up for that lost grant, the government changed the agreement and plans to use loans from the EBRD and the EIB that have already been arranged.
SDSM issued accusations that after the loss of these funds the burden will fall on citizens through new indebtedness, while the Government assures that there will be no financial implications in the next few years.
For the third phase of the rail connection, from Kriva Palanka to the border with Bulgaria, offers are being reviewed to determine who will carry out the supervision; the deadline for submission was until the beginning of June. The call for selecting a contractor, according to information, will be published in about two weeks.
The rail connection with Bulgaria is a project that has been worked on for years, and rail Corridor VIII connects the Adriatic with the Black Sea. The section through the country runs from the border with Bulgaria, through Beljakovce, Kumanovo, Skopje and Kichevo to the border with Albania.
Irena Chachkova
Photo: press material from the event
