Demir Kapija - Smokvica motorway officially opened
Demir Kapija, April 23, 2018 - The new highway from Demir Kapija to Smokvica, 28.2 km long, provides significant shortening of travel time, increases the safety for all traffic participants and creates conditions for increasing the dynamics of transport and trade, as well as further development of the overall economy.
These are the key benefits for the country, its citizens and business entities from the new highway and in its construction have been invested a total of 227 million euro.
- With the opening of these 28.2 km of the Demir Kapija - Smokvica highway, we added the part of the Pan-European Corridor 10, which was missing in the country. This motorway will facilitate the movement, encourage the economic development and provide a sustainable and safer travel, said the Director General for European Neighborhood Policy and Enlargement Negotiations in the European Commission, Mr. Christian Danielsson in his address.
In this event the new highway was officially opened, and at the same time was launched the "EU for YOU" campaign for the European Union's investments in the transport infrastructure.
The European Union has, over the past few years, invested nearly 325 million euro in the country's transport infrastructure. Over 100 km of highway network, 64 km of roads in more than 40 municipalities and 60 settlements, 16 km of railway and 11 railway stations have been built and restored with them.
- Linking is the basic step for equalizing our regional standards with those of the European Union to which all roads are leading us to. This highway is one of them in the literal sense. This highway connects, and leads to the EU! This section of the highway "Friendship" incorporates in itself the story, the sincere story, for support and cooperation. One of the clearest commitments of this Government is the elevation of our country as a constructive point, which connects and brings together in unity, and hence this highway is perhaps one of the strongest symbols of it. Our fundamental value and determination, raising the capacities of our country to a level worthy of being a member of the EU, is a strong motivation for the harmonization of our national road infrastructure strategy with that of the European Union, stated the Prime Minister Zoran Zaev, expressing appreciation for the support the European Union is providing in the development of the country's infrastructure.
Like the other EU infrastructure projects, the new highway, too, is constructed according to the cutting edge constructional, technical and security standards. Along the highway route have been carried out over 8 million cubic meters of high embankments and deep excavations in the terrain, as well as 6 bridges, nearly 100 channels, 2 interchanges and 2 double tunnels with a length of over 1.2 km. In addition to the modern energy efficient lighting, in the tunnels are installed systems for ventilation, for fire detection and extinguishing, for backup power supply as well as SCADA system for monitoring and traffic management.
- We are from today, getting a new, modern and safe motorway section, first of this type in the Balkans. The highway contains all the necessary traffic safety features, which ensure that the traffic in this section will be safer for all participants. It is designed and constructed in accordance with the European Union norms and standards for environmental protection, which additionally affects the reduction of emissions of gases, said Minister of Transport and Communications Goran Sugarevski.
Continuing support and investments, which need to provide more efficient infrastructure and energetic connectivity across the region is one of the six priority initiatives in the new EU Strategy for supporting the Western Balkans transformation. It foresees additional EU investments of over one billion euro in the further development and infrastructure of the Western Balkan countries.