Sofia, July 14 (BTA) - Senior officials of the Bulgarian
National Railway Infrastructrue Company (NRIC), Macedonian
Railways Infrastructure and Albanian Railways discussed the
construction of Pan-European Corridor VIII in Sofia on
Wednesday, NRIC said.

The 500-km long Pan-European Corridor VIII comprises both road
and rail routes, which commence on the Italian Adriatic coast at
 Bari or Brindisi, with a ferry crossing to Durres in Albania.
From there the routes cross the southern Balkans into Bulgaria
and thence to Varna, on the Bulgarian Black Sea coast. The road
corridor follows the route: Tirana/Durres/Vlore - Elbasan -
Skopje - Pernik - Sofia - Plovdiv - Burgas - Varna.

Participating in the meeting were NRIC Director General
Krassimir Papukchiiski, Macedonian Railways Infrastructure 
Director General Hari Lokvenec and Albanian Railways CEO Ani
Dyrmishi.
   
Krassimir Papukchiiski said that good progress has been made
under the project and that a single section between North
Macedonia and Albania nead Lake Ohrid  remains to be discussed
where UNESCO does not allow construction. Next month the route
is expected to be cleared and in September there will be another
 meeting of the three railway companies in Albania to discuss
the technological specifications of the project.

The Bulgarian section is Sofia-Pernik, Radomir-Gyueshevo and the
 stretch between Radomir and Gyueshevo has a final design and
has to be completed by 2027.

The section between North Macedonia and Bulgaria has to be
comoleted within the same time frame. Some 101 km are left to be
 constructed on Bulgarian territory. North Macedona has selected
 contractors for the section from Skopje to Kriva Palanka and
now a procedure for the selection of a contractor for the
section bewteen Kriva Palanka and Deve Bair in Bulgaria is
underway.  

Some 150 km of the railway link have been completed in the three
 countries. North Macedonia and Albania have secured loans for
the project, while Bulgaria relies on funding under the Connect
Europe Facility. The construction of the Bulgarian section of
the road will take up 1.2 billion euro, said Papukchiiski.  The
stretch between Kriva Palanka and Deve Bair alone, where the
terrain is very complex, will take 500 million euro, he added.

Within the framework of the meeting a cooperation was signed for
 the establishment of an interagency group. Bulgaria and North
Macedonia have set up such a group which is working on the
design for the Deve Bair tunnel which will link the stations at
the border. NV/PP