Skopje, 7 October 2024 (MIA) - The Government plans to make the country an intersection in the road, energy and rail sectors and a hub of the road, energy and rail corridors in the region, Prime Minister Hristijan Mickoski said Monday.

“The country’s geographic location is very significant for this part of Europe. Our goal, as a Government, is to be an intersection in all three sectors – road, energy and rail and in that way, we believe we would be a priority in the eyes of bigger countries,” Mickoski said at a joint press conference with his Serbian counterpart Miloš Vučević in Skopje.

Mickoski said the Corridor X road connection is “more or less finished, with Corridor X-d left to be completed”.

“Corridor VIII is being realized as well, and after this completion we will become an intersection. Regarding rail traffic, both corridors VIII and X have the same priority. We will soon have a high level meeting in Brussels on Corridor VIII to see what Bulgaria is planning, while for Corridor X we are considering either modernizing the existing route by replacing the tracks, building electricity infrastructure and boosting the speed from 35 to 110-120 km/h or constructing a high-speed rail on a new route through the Ovche Pole plain with speeds of 220-250 km/h, but that would cost four times as much. In terms of energy, the 400 kV lines from Albania and the gas interconnectors with Greece and Serbia need to be constructed for us to become an intersection,” the PM said.

Mickoski stressed that the capacity of the gas interconnector with Greece is 12 billion cubic meters of natural gas, while the country only uses 500 million cubic meters.

“The goal is to invest and then as a transit country to provide an additional option of 12 billion cubic meters of natural gas to Central Europe, so they have a source for additional gas besides the south stream,” Mickoski said.

The Prime Minister said he expects Ukraine to draw larger quantities of gas from Europe during the winter, which, he said, would raise the price of natural gas. “We must be ready for this price increase and not only this year, but also in the years to come and that’s why projects for gas interconnections are being developed,” he said. 

Serbia’s PM, Vučević, said the gas interconnector between the two countries will be realized by 2027, and that Serbia will complete the Belgrade-Subotica high-speed rail by the end of November.

“We expect Hungary to complete its part of the railway in three years as well, and to have an exceptionally fast railway between Belgrade, Novi Sad, Subotica and Budapest. At the same time, we are working on the section from Belgrade to Niš, and we will continue to Vranje. That’s why we want to officially hear the message from Skopje, how they see Corridor X so that the railway can continue to be built towards the border with North Macedonia. I was assured that this is a goal of their Government as well, so we will construct a high-speed railway to the border,” Vučević said.

Prime Minister Mickoski said he sees no reason why the interconnector shouldn’t be completed by 2027, adding that this would be a priority of the Government.

Regarding the high-speed rail, Mickoski said the country has to decide whether it will utilize the existing route or construct a new one. 

Photo: Screenshot