North Macedonia has put into operation a new 10 km section of the trans-European Corridor X

2025-08-073 min.

After an investment of nearly 45 million euro, the final 10.2km section of the Farish-Drenovo expressway, part of the Gradsko-Prilep route, has been opened to traffic in North Macedonia, BalkanEngineer.com has learned from Money.bg. This is the second and final stage of the project, which is strategic for improving transport connectivity along the European Corridor X linking Austria with Greece through the Balkans.

The project was financed through a loan from the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) and the implementation awarded to the Chinese company Sinohydro after a failed start with the Spanish Rebau. The original 2016 contract was terminated in 2018 due to slow progress, and construction resumed in 2021 with a new contractor.

The open section complements the already completed first segment Gradsko - Drenovo, put into operation at the beginning of the year. The entire route is part of the trans-European transport corridor that passes through Austria, Slovenia, Croatia, Serbia, North Macedonia and Greece.

Alongside this project, the country is also progressing with the large-scale construction of Corridor VIII, connecting the Albanian port of Durres (Drach) with the Bulgarian port of Varna. In 2023, a 1.3 billion euro contract was signed with the US-Turkish consortium Bechtel-Enka for the construction of over 100 km of motorways along the two transport corridors. Among them is the Tetovo - Gostivar section, the construction of which started in May 2025 and is expected to be completed in about two and a half years.

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