The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development will provide a €167.6 million (US$174.9 million) loan to North Macedonia for construction of a 10km motorway section.
The four-lane highway will run parallel to an existing national road built 50 years ago that heads north from the capital Skopje to the Blace interchange near the border with Kosovo.
The project will also benefit from a €20.8 million euro grant by the European Union and additional €8.8 million euro for technical cooperation provided through the Western Balkans Investment Framework, the EBRD said in a press release on Friday.
Meanwhile, the EBRD also said that technical cooperation funding will support North Macedonia's ministry of transport and communications in developing a national e-mobility strategy and action plan for the rollout of an electric vehicle fleet and infrastructure.
The WBIF is a financing facility established by the European Commission, Western Balkan countries, bilateral donors, the CEB (Council of Europe Development Bank) and other financial institutions to deliver funding for strategic investment projects in the Balkans region.
