Shtip, 5 April 2024 (MIA) – The Ministry of Transport and Communications is waiting documentation to be completed before the technical part of the gas pipeline is put into operations, Transport Minister Blagoj Bochvarski stated Friday at a mining for building materials for the construction of a dam on the river Otinja in eastern North Macedonia. Asked by reporters when the company in charge of testing will be issued permit and which gas pipeline section will be inaugurated first, Bochvarski said that a request for putting into service some of the gas pipeline sections from Shtip to Bitola and from Skopje and Gostivar is yet to be sent. 

“As soon as the documents arrive, the Transport Ministry will set up a commission tasked with conducting construction completion certificate. We are prepared to close this case once it arrives at the Ministry, but no such case has been sent yet,” the Minister told reporters.

The Minister also revealed that a procedure has been opened for the selection of a constructor of the first interconnector with Greece. 

According to him, it will further boost the country’s energy independence.

The current government, Bochvarski noted, implemented capital projects in gasification, including regional 210-km gas pipelines.

According to the Minister, it is the most that has ever been constructed since the country declared independence in 1991. “Gas pipelines have been constructed from Shtip to Negotino, from Negotino to Kavadarci, from Prilep and Bitola, and from Skopje via Tetovo to Gostivar,” he said. 

Photo: MIA