Most Ministries have made contributions to the Stability Pact signed with the EU. The project "Corridor 8" is one of them. How will this project benefit the Macedonian economy?
First of all thank you for coming here and for you interest for the Government of the Republic of Macedonia and the Ministry of Transports and Communications. Welcome to our Ministry. I would to present to you the structure of our Ministry, so that afterwards we could continue with the obligations that we have both in regard the Stability Pact and Corridor 8. The Ministry of Transports and Communications is a relatively new Ministry, created in August out of two ministries - the former Ministry of Urbanism and the former Ministry of Transport. As a result this new Ministry is responsible for the land, air and railway transport, also for the radio and the telecommunications, urban planning, housing policy and civil construction. This means a lot of big responsibilities but as I always say in this kind of occasions, this means lots of opportunities for cooperation. This was only the initial image to introduce you to our Ministry. Now, to be more specific and to talk about the Stability Pact, i.e. the Corridor 8, where we, as a Ministry, participate actively. One of the first projects of the Stability Pact is the Water Supply Project for 5 Towns in Macedonia and the implementation of this project will begin in April. One of the projects that are quick-start projects is the project for the border crossing of Blace, which will improve the connection with Kosovo, especially in this period because it will include both a border crossing and a terminal for heavy vehicles. We also have some other projects, but they are in the middle phase. One of the most important tasks before the Ministry of Transports and Communications is the Corridor 8.
I believe that the World Bank is currently here to do a feasibility survey and evaluation of the water supply of the cities that you have just mentioned.
The World Bank is here, and the World Bank Director for Macedonia and the region, Mr. Portman is here. We had several discussions with the World Bank about the projects. Those projects are independent from the Stability Pact project. The World Bank project is related to the motorway reparations between Skopje and Tetovo, which is already in its final phase and I hope that we will be able to open it in June or July this year. We have another project with the World Bank on the transformation and the restoration of the Macedonian railways. By May we should prepare a Study on the Transformation of the Macedonian Railways as we want to privatise them.
I believe there is a railway under construction to Bulgaria. How is this proceeding?
The railway toward Bulgaria is under construction. Namely that is Corridor 8. So we have started the construction from our own budget. For the finalisation of the overall project of that railway we need about 200 million US Dollars.
When do you expect the finalisation of that project?
First of all we want to have the Study for the Privatisation of the Macedonian Railways ready because afterwards we are planning to give the overall Railways under concession.
What is your general feeling about the outcome of the Corridor 8?
As I already mentioned, Corridor 8 is the biggest task for our Ministry because Bulgaria, Macedonia and Albania have not signed yet the Memorandum on Corridor 8. In August the Government of the Republic of Macedonia and the Ministry of Transports and Communications undertook an initiative for final signing of that Memorandum. For that purpose I had separate meeting with the Ministers of Transport from Bulgaria and Albania. I also had a meeting with the Minister of Transport of Italy, Mr. Bersani, since Italy is the coordinator of the whole Corridor. The aim of all these meetings is to have this Memorandum signed as soon as possible, but there are some non-clarified things related to one of the articles in that Memorandum. Our proposal is to have the main direction from Varna to Drac to have the priority right to financing and construction. We want to have this included in that article of the Memorandum and afterwards to follow the financing of the lines on connecting the Corridor.
Do you expect to get some partnership from foreign private investors?
I hope that something like that will happen because Corridor 8 is a very important connection from the Black Sea to the Adriatic Sea and then the Mediterranean, because then me have a connection between Drac and Bari and the whole area of Puglia in Italy and on the other side of the Mediterranean Sea with France and Spain. So in our efforts and initiative for a final solution of this problem, I would not call it a problem but more of an unclear issue included in that Article and I hope that that Memorandum will be signed very soon. By that we will be able to show Europe that these three countries are not only capable of signing the Memorandum but also of building it. In this context we would have the private partnership and Corridor 8 should be constructed as a whole and not to be constructed in sections, in Bulgaria, Macedonia and Albania, but as a whole. So in that context we have the economic influences related to that Corridor. For that reason this Corridor does not represent only a transportation corridor but more of an economic corridor for the development of the whole region.
To which level is your ministry involved in the realisation of various projects of the Ministry and especially Corridor 8.
Within our programme, the Fund on Main and Regional Roads is under the umbrella of the Ministry of Transports and Communications. The Ministry of Transports and Communications is preparing the Annual Programme for the Fund and the Road Macedonia. In regard to the roads of the Corridor 8 we already started the construction of our section with our own resources. So until June we are going to have a motorway solution between Skopje-Tetovo, which is part of Corridor 8. We already have a motorway between Tetovo and Kosovo. In April we are going to begin the construction of the bypass around Skopje. The only section remaining to be solved with a motorway is the section between the Bulgarian border and Kumanovo. And from Kicevo to Kafasan we have a main road. The Kafasan border crossing was constructed in accordance to all the European standards and it was opened in September. However, with the signing of the Memorandum we are going to benefit a lot from the international support, the international factors and that is the area where we would like to have the foreign private capital.
The air transport is also one of the main focuses of your Ministry. You have launched a bid for the reconstruction of the Skopje's Airport, which should start this year. How significant is this project for the Macedonian economy?
Regarding the Skopje Airport we want to and we are ready to elevate that airport to a level of regional airport. The past two years have shown that we have about one million, 1.1 million passengers per year. So having in mind the central position of Macedonia in the region for the passengers from Bulgaria, Albania, Kosovo and Serbia, this whole region, even from Greece a central airport for them is the Skopje Airport. So we want and we are ready to alleviate on a level of regional airport for this region, and to that aim, we announced a tender. | What is the time framework for this project?
I would mention that the tender is still under way. But it is already under construction regardless of the tender. We have started it with our own resources. Most of the upgrading will be related to the terminal building which is planned to provide services for 1.2 million passengers per year; his is going to be a completely new building. This also includes the roads that would connect the Airport to the city, building of a hotel and a story garage for parking. But the priority is to have a completely new terminal building with completely new equipment necessary for providing services for the passengers.
In regarding the main projects of your Ministry, in a few weeks will be decided the future of Avioimpex and MAT. Can you tell us what is your strategy behind this operation?
In June an Agreement was signed by which MAT was selected as the official national carrier. That agreement should have gone into effect on 1 November. Regarding agreements, just like with the Memorandum on Corridor 8, this Agreement also includes an Article that reads that the two companies should agree upon their future joint activities. In this regard the Ministry of Transports and Communications should play the key role because, we as a Ministry, in the interest of the citizens and the employees of the two companies do not have an objective of having one of the companies destroyed, i.e. on the account of having MAT chosen as the regular official national carrier to simply have Avioimpex Company stop functioning. We take upon activities and discussions with the two companies in order to find a common solution that would be acceptable for the both sides. The Ministry, in the interest of employees and the passengers, wants Avioimpex to continue operating, because the strategy of that overall project, i.e. the opinion and the activities of the Government and the Ministry of Transports and Communications is not simply to allow for one of the companies to be destroyed.
Don't you intend to sell Avioimpex to a foreign investor?
The two companies should come to an agreement together, however I hope that they will come up with a sensible solution, our Ministry could help with that, because as two Macedonian Air Companies they could agree for joint working. For that purpose, the Ministry of Transport is leading these discussions, because the Agreement indicated that MAT should be the official carrier and Avioimpex to organise charter flights. But I believe that through discussions and a little bit of postponing the implementation of that agreement it is possible to reach an agreement acceptable to both sides.
I would like to conclude with some questions about the telecommunications sector. This is another important sector for your economy. We experienced the fact that Mátav recently bought the Telecom. The Telecom remains the only cellular operator in the country. Do you intend to let new operators come into the market and compete with the Telecom?
Regarding the privatisation of the Macedonian Telecom I would like to emphasise that it was carried out in a fully transparent and professional manner. For the overall activities related to the tender we got acknowledgement from the very participants in the tender, which means a lot to us, because all the agreements that should have been signed were standardised and accepted by all the participants in the last circle of the tender. And every potential buyer among the foreign companies, Mátav, OTE and Telecom Slovenije knew what kind of an agreement would have been signed with them if they had been chosen. All the participating companies were present at the opening of the offers, so based on the financial report and the technological characteristics it was obvious that Mátav with a dominating ownership by the Deutsche Telecom was the leading and it began the privatisation of the Macedonian Telecom with 51 %. This would mean much greater development of telecommunications in this region. Regarding the cellular operator we are planning this year to announce a tender for a second cellular operator in order to have competition and quality in this segment as well.
From the selling of the Telecom to Mátav, the Government got, 350 million Euros. In which areas is the Government intending to invest this money?
Regarding this question the Minister of Finance will be more specific. I could say that one third of this money will be spent for new investments, also for paying off debts and for protection. Regarding the investments I could more specifically tell you that at this moment the ministries are submitting all their ready projects and a team composed from several competent ministries will have an initial analysis and afterwards in cooperation with the IMF and the World Bank they will choose the projects that will be financed with the money from the selling of the Telecom. However, you will get more detailed information about the precise sum of money that will be spent on certain activities at the Ministry of Finance, which is the main coordinator of this activity and we as the Ministry of Transport will be included in the implementation of the projects.
As a more personal question, you are one of the youngest ministers in this Government. We would like to know more about you, your professional background and your prospects within the Government.
Regarding "young", all of us in the Government are young people, headed by our Prime Minister. But I could say that I with several other ministers belong to the same generation and that the cooperation that exists among the ministries and the personal cooperation is very important for the functioning of the whole Government, because the cooperation between the ministries does not end with the end of the working hours because our working hours, especially at the Ministry of Transport end, I hope, at 11pm but we should prolong them a little bit longer. With this I wanted to emphasise the excellent cooperation with all the ministries, and from that aspect I believe that the youth, the efficiency and the explosiveness in a way come along with the results of the Government, but I would emphasise also with the youth of our Prime Minister.
Maybe you would like to add some comments on issues that we have not touched upon?
Well, there are many other topics to discuss and many other plans that we have since we have so many responsibilities. But I should emphasise that the privatisation of the Macedonian Post Offices is underway and that the Canadian Post Offices expressed their readiness to participate in that privatisation. In February we are expecting a delegation from the Canadian Post Offices to start with the implementation of that project. This is another very important project for us after the privatisation of the Telecom.
Perhaps you could give us some information on how is preceding the project regarding the free economic zone in Bunardzic.
Currently, the first factory is under construction over there. To be objective, there were some delays in that zone. For that purpose a separate Agency for Free Economic Zones was formed, but still the Ministry of Transports and Communications is responsible up to a certain level for the construction activities in that area. Thus, we will actively participate in the building of the Free Economic Zone, Bunardzic, especially because as a location it is closely related to the Skopje Airport.
Thank you very much for your time. |
V.I.P. INTERVIEWS 
