The €200 Million Skopje–Blace Motorway: Does Macedonia Really Get a Road to Bar?
The new 10.5-kilometer section with five tunnels is to be built in about four years; Minister Nikoloski says it opens access to the Adriatic ports of Durres and Bar, but the road does not end at the sea.
The Skopje–Blace motorway is a new 10.5-kilometer section that connects to an existing 2 kilometers near the border crossing with Kosovo. Construction has been entrusted to the domestic firm Granit, with a deadline of about four years. Financing consists of an EBRD loan of €167.6 million, a Western Balkans Investment Framework grant of €30.8 million and funds from the state roads budget; Minister Aleksandar Nikoloski mentioned a total value of around €200 million.
According to state roads director Koce Trajanovski, the project includes five tunnels, eight bridges, 11 underpasses, four galleries and nine retaining walls. Expropriation is more than 65 percent complete, and he expects it to be resolved within one to two months. The first 2 kilometers began in 2020 but were stuck for years over expropriation, and the current section was announced by the previous government in 2022 without work starting. Prime Minister Mickoski called the moment “historic” for Macedonia and Kosovo.
Nikoloski says the motorway connects the country with Kosovo and Montenegro and opens access to two Adriatic ports, Durres and Bar. In reality, this section ends at Blace, so how fast and comfortably one reaches Bar also depends on roads in Kosovo and Montenegro, which are not part of this project. “A road to the sea” is the right direction, but not yet a date.
MKNews Hub · Macedonia · October 10, 2026
