February 2 (SeeNews) - North Macedonia's government said on Thursday it signed a deal with Italian consultancy IRD Engineering to supervise construction works on sections of pan-European Corridors VIII and X-d in the Western Balkans country.
"The construction of the highway sections is essential for improving the standard of road infrastructure and traffic and will highlight North Macedonia's geostrategic location," prime minister Dimitar Kovachevski said in a statement.
Negotiations will start in the coming period between the selected consultant and the US-Turkish joint venture Bechtel-Enka, which will do the construction works.
In December 2022, North Macedonia's Public Enterprise for State Roads (PESR) received offers from three companies in its tender for the provision of supervision services and legal advice. Bidders included France's Ingerop Conseil et Ingenierie, IRD Engineering and US Hill International.
Corridor VIII is an east-west route connecting Albania's Adriatic port of Durres to Bulgaria's Black Sea port of Varna via North Macedonia. Corridor X runs from Salzburg, Austria to Thessaloniki, Greece. The corridor passes through Austria, Slovenia, Croatia, Serbia, North Macedonia, and Greece. It has four branches - a, b, c, and d.