Ejup Rustemi, the newly appointed head of the Macedonian Roads (JDPD) public utility company, said that the deadline to complete the Kicevo – Ohrid highway is now pushed to the end of 2023. Little work is being done on the key highway, which broke ground in early 2014.

The Chinse Sinohydro company is building the highway, along with the Skopje – Stip highway, which was nearly complete in 2017, when SDSM and Zoran Zaev grabbed power. Zaev immediately ordered a stop to both projects, eager to use them for politically motivated trials of VMRO-DPMNE party officials under alleged corruption. Protests from citizens of Stip forced him to allow the completion of the smaller highway, but Kicevo – Ohrid remained hopelessly stuck, as the Zaev regime insisted that it was not planned well, but then approved major cost increases as it renegotiated the deal.