Skopje, November 9 — The city of Skopje will start implementing the Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) system, the city authorities announced today.
The new system will include two lines connecting the city in an east-west direction (from Gjorche Petrov to Novo Lisiche) and in a north-south direction (from Butel to Pintija).
The two lines will intersect in the city center. A loan of 70 million euros from the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development will be used to realize the project.
This comes after the project started by the previous local government was stopped for two years. The current mayor, Danela Arsovska, announced at the beginning of her term of office that she had no intention of implementing this system for city transportation.
“In the basic conceptual project, the detected serious obstacles to implementation were highlighted, which thanks to the dedication and work of the city administration have been overcome and whose removal enables the smooth implementation of this project”, the City of Skopje adds.
The project includes the construction of two new terminals, transportation centers, ensuring uninterrupted bus traffic, as well as the purchase of new environmentally friendly buses that run on compressed natural gas.
Former mayor Petre Shilegov, on the other hand, criticized the local government for losing two years in the meantime, saying that the construction of the system would have been in full swing by now.