September 23 (SeeNews) - North Macedonia's government said it will seek 426 million euro ($498 million) financing for the construction of a railway line that will connect the city of Kicevo to the border with Albania.
The government has authorised the ministry of finance to launch a call for expressions of interest from international financial institutions and bilateral creditors to provide funds, as well as grants for providing technical assistance for the project, it said in a statement on Tuesday.
The project will be carried out in two phases, with the first phase envisaging the construction of the Kicevo-Struga railway stretch.
The railway connection, part of European transport corridor 8 running east-west through Southeast Europe, is planned to pass through Kicevo and Struga in western North Macedonia to the village of Lin in southeastern Albania.
In 2018, public company Macedonian Railways Transport said that the railway section was expected to be fully operational by 2023.
The construction of parts of the Corridor 8 is being implemented under a memorandum of cooperation signed by Macedonian and Albanian railway companies, aiming to coordinate efforts in presenting joint projects to international financial institutions in the search for financing.
Corridor 8 is one of the pan-European land transport routes running from Durres in Albania, across North Macedonia to the city of Varna, on the Bulgarian Black Sea coast.
($ = 0.8551 euro)