Transportation Minister Vlado Misajlovski said that the Veles-Kadrifakovo express way will be completed by September this year. The project worth EUR 14.6 million will expand what was once a two lane road from Veles to Stip into a road with a lane and a half on each side, allowing much faster commute between Macedonia's central and eastern regions. After 26 kilometers as an express way between Veles and Kadrifakovo, the road will merge with the newly built Skopje-Stip highway.
"We are currently paving over parts of the road in their third phase. About 85 percent of the express way have been completed so far, and I expect to see the road completed by September", Misajlovski said during a visit to the construction site. Stretches of the road are already opened for the new style of driving, while others remain under construction.
Aleksandar Stojanov, head of the Public Roads utility company, added that this is the main infrastructure investment in the region in the past 40 years. The Skopje-Stip highway, which will connect the two cities through Sveti Nikole shortening the total distance to 47 kilometers, is by now at about a third of the total construction, Misajlovski and Stojanov said.
During the visit they announced that three additional express ways are being planned to branch out in the eastern region, improving infrastructure links in Macedonia's least developed area.