February 25 (SeeNews) - North Macedonia's national railway operator Railways of the Republic of North Macedonia will apply for a 150 million euro ($183.3 million) grant from the Western Balkans Investment Framework (WBIF) for the construction of a railway line from Kriva Palanka to the Bulgarian border, the government in Skopje said.
The potential grant from WBIF will finance part of the third phase of the construction of the railway, government spokesman Dusko Arsovski told a press conference streamed on the government's YouTube channel on Wednesday.
The government has finished the prequalification stage of a tender process for the implementation of the first two phases of the project and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) is currently evaluating the bids, Arsovski said.
The EBRD is providing a 70 million loan to North Macedonia for the second phase of the planned railway construction, while the EU is providing a 70 million euro grant for the same project phase, Arsovski added.
The railway section from Kriva Palanka to the Bulgarian border is part of Corridor VIII that links Albania's Adriatic port of Durres to the Bulgarian Black Sea port of Varna.
($ = 0.8181 euro)