North Macedonia will announce a tender for planned construction of the 68-kilometer gas pipeline Negоtino – Gevgelija by the end of the year, said Minister of Transport Blagoj Bochvarski.
The government expects to receive a construction permit for the pipeline by mid-2021, Bochvarski said in a press release.
Bochvarski added that the construction of gas pipelines from Negotino to Bitola and from Skopje to Gostivar will be completed in 2021.
The gas pipeline Negotino – Gevgelija will run from the city of Gevgelija, on the border with Greece, to the city of Negotino where it will be connected with the gas pipeline Stip – Negotino. This interconnection will allow North Macedonia to be connected to the Trans-Adriatic Pipeline (TAP) via Greece and access to gas from Azerbaijan. North Macedonia currently depends entirely on Russian gas supplies via the Balkan pipeline.
The Greek gas network operator DESFA, together with the Ministry of Energy, has begun preparations for the pipeline interconnector, while RAE, the energy regulator, has requested a market test to reserve sufficient capacity.
DESFA and its partner from North Macedonia MER, signed a Memorandum of Understanding in October 2016 for the pipeline project.
