Insight into the construction works on the gas pipeline Skopje-Tetovo-Gostivar (Pintija)
“Today we are at the 11th kilometer of the section Skopje-Tetovo-Gostivar which is 86 km long, most of the construction work is completed, with 80% realization. I expect that this section will be completed this year, all infrastructure projects have been adopted, which were inevitable for change during construction. Land expropriation of the last stage has already started, in Skopje region, where we had changes and the good news is that the most difficult areas of this section have already been built. There are 20 kilometers left until the completion of the whole project.This is the easier part, which I expect to be completed by the end of the year, with the installation of the two main measuring regulation stations, one in Gostivar with a capacity of 16,000 cubic meters per hour, the other in Tetovo with 22,000 cubic meters per hour, as well as the seven valve stations which are an integral part of this section. The property-legal issues, which were canceled last year are overcome. I expect during the second quarter of this year, the process to be completed and we will finally have a good field of work to complete the section. Finally, the entire Polog region in the western part of Skopje will have access to the gas transmission system. Together with the distribution system, it will be available to all citizens, companies and large users. Our plan are is the section to Bitola to be completed also. The realization there is 95%, only the part with Feni remains to be completed. The section will be operational this year. We expect the procedure for construction of the interconnector with Greece to start this year and we will finally have diversification of our supply sources, as we have access to much cheaper gas through the DESFA system in Greece, as well as the other interconnector with Kosovo. This year the feasibility study for this section will be completed, and next year the design will start.Finally we will be able to use our transmission system to transmit gas to the northern neighbors, just like the other interconnector in Serbia which this year needs to be approved by the Energy Community, as a project of common interest and to apply in WBIF for a feasibility study and design. Both projects will be supported by the EBRD, so that we can use our transmission system for the northern neighbors "- said Bajram Redzepi, Executive Director of NER JSC Skopje