Think Railways

FYR Macedonia announced a tender for provision of  consultancy services for drafting Kriva Palanka – Deve Bair railway line project, part of Corridor VIII and the last section of the west-east corridor connecting Macedonia and Bulgaria. Interested companies are invited to submit bids until the 20th of November and the project needs to be finished in 22 months. 

Macedonia's transport ministry informed that EU has approved an amount of EUR 3.5 million for financing the project preparation under IPA Regional Development funds.

The rehabilitation project for the 23.4 km Kriva Palanka-Deve Bair railway section is estimated at  EUR 330 million, however the final costs will be known after the preparation of the basic project. 

The development projects of the other two sections of Corridor VIII: Kumanovo -  Beljakovce (31 km) and Beljakovce-Kriva Palanka (34 km) are in different stages of implementation.

Reconstruction works of the first railway section are expected to be completed by the end of 2016. Wiebe is the contractor for this project,  worth EUR 39 million. 

Obermayer Hellas is providing consultancy services for the basic project for the Beljakovce-Kriva Palanka section. The pre-qualification stage for the selection of the construction company for this section is expected to start in November and construction works should be launched  by 2016. The project costs are estimated at EUR 145 million, funding provided by European Bank for Reconstruction and Development.