Macedonia to get 80 kilometers of gas pipeline in 2018

80 kilometers of pipeline – the longest ever – will be constructed this year in Macedonia after EUR 40 million has been singled out from the national budget.

Gasification is one of the top priorities of the government, which is intensively seeking ways for gas pipelines to reach all municipalities in Macedonia, Minister of Transport and Communications Goran Sugareski said Tuesday after a working meeting with Blagojce Kotevski, Director of the Macedonian Energy Resources (MER).

He said some issues involving expropriation remained to be solved before meeting the deadlines, i.e. construction of a gas pipeline section from Negotino to Bitola by 2020 and a section from Skopje to Gostivar with a pipeline leg to Tetovo to be completed by late 2019.

MER Director Koteski said talks were underway with the mayors of all municipalities, where the national pipeline network would be built, in order to provide conditions for timely construction of a secondary network.

He said EUR 5 million had been secured this year for expropriation processes with EUR 4 million being intended for the Skopje-Gostivar section with a leg to Tetovo and EUR one million for the Negotino-Bitola pipeline.

Also, a new interconnection network with Greece and Bulgaria is in the works, according to Koteski.

Rapid Build company and its consortium has been picked as contractor for the section linking Stip and Negotino and from Skopje to Gostivar and the leg to Tetovo. The construction company will build the Negotino-Bitola gas pipeline.