September 16 (SeeNews) - Bulgaria and North Macedonia gave the green light to a project for the design and construction of a new crossing at their common border worth over 10 million euro ($9.98 million), the Bulgarian regional development ministry said.
The crossing connecting the village of Strumyani in Bulgaria and the town of Berovo in North Macedonia is a strategic project under the cross-border cooperation programme Interreg 2021-2027, the ministry said in a statement on Thursday.
The design and construction of the checkpoint on the Bulgarian side has been assigned to Blagoevgrad Regional Administration. In North Macedonia, the project will be carried out by the local customs agency.
When completed, the new crossing is planned to operate 24 hours a day, seven days a week. It will be open for vehicles weighing up to 3.5 tonnes.
Bulgaria first disclosed in January its plans to build the new crossing at the border with North Macedonia with 10.3 million euro in EU financing.
Interreg Europe is an interregional cooperation programme, co-funded by the European Union, that aims to reduce disparities in the levels of development, growth and quality of life in and across Europe’s regions.
($ = 0.9983 euro)