SKOPJE (Macedonia), September 20 (SeeNews) – The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) said on Thursday it is providing a 10 million euro ($11.7 million) senior loan to finance the construction of a part of European road Corridor VIII crossing Macedonia.
The 13-km stretch of dual lane carriageway between Kriva Palanka and Deve Bair near the border with Bulgaria will improve regional connectivity, the EBRD said in a press release.
“Corridor VIII is part of the Western Balkans Core Network and an indicative extension of Trans-European Transport Network,” the statement added.
The project will improve the country’s economic ties with the European Union via neighbouring EU member Bulgaria.
According to the EBRD, an additional 2.6 million euro investment grant is expected to be provided for the project by the Western Balkans Investment Framework (WBIF) in December 2018.
The EBRD has invested 30 million euro in Corridor VIII and 117 million euro so far in Corridor X.
To date, the EBRD has invested 1,788 million euro in 112 projects in Macedonia.
($ = 0.85626 euro)