The Rankovce-Kriva Palanka expressway, which was initially announced by the previous government to be ready in the fall, will now be ready by the New Year. Today, the new director of the Public Enterprise for State Roads, Koce Trajanovski, and the Minister of Transport, Aleksandar Nikoloski, inspected the construction works.

This road is 25 kilometers long and divided into two sections. The first section is from Stracin to Dlabochica and is 15 kilometers long, while the second section is from Dlabochica to Kriva Palanka and is 10 kilometers long. The total investment is valued at 92.7 million euros, with the first section costing 43 million euros and the second section about 50 million euros. The works started in 2018. Director Trajanovski stated that they expect both sections to be completed by the New Year and announced that they will continue working on the completion of Corridor 8, of which the expressway is a part.

Minister Nikoloski expects that with the commissioning of this road, the economy will accelerate, citizens will earn higher incomes, and people will remain living in their hometowns. The Rankovce-Kriva Palanka expressway will also shorten the travel time to Sofia. The minister and his team used four weeks to analyze the current projects and identified problems with expropriation, performance issues, delays due to non-work, and false promises about the completion of construction.

For the construction of the Stracin-Kriva Palanka expressway, the previous government provided a grant of 14 million euros, with the remainder of the 92 million euros financed through a loan from the World Bank.

Residents of Stracin and the surrounding villages blocked the road last year because the expressway cut off their local road, forcing them to cross it with tractors to reach their farmlands. As a result, the Public Enterprise for State Roads had to seek a new solution.