Corridor X

Purpose of the Environmental and Social Impact Assessments

The EBRD is considering to provide co-financing, together with the European Union’s Instrument for Pre-accession (‘IPA’) and the European Investment Bank (‘EIB’) of a new 28 km section of Corridor X from Smokvica to Demir Kapija with a total length of 28 km. This forms a key section of this north-west link which links Austria to Greece.

The investment is required to meet the growing traffic demand and to facilitate full motorway standard thus, ultimately facilitating regional integration and connectivity with the wider Europe.

There is a project summary document available for this project.

ESIA Summary

Main environmental and social issues

Main environmental and social issues described in the ESIA documentation include:

• Biodiversity: sensitive habitats have been identified and include mainly the Demir Kapija canyon, the plane and willow gallery forests and the maquis and pseudo-maquis habitats on the plateaus.
• Social and Land Acquisition: while the Project does not affect any residential structure, it does impact some agricultural and pasture land in the Vardar valley towards the villages of Miravci and Smokvica. The proposed route is generally well away from settlements; however, noise protection will be needed locally, as well as re-establishment of local roads and agricultural tracks in the Vardar valley between Miravci and Smokvica.
• Construction impacts: they will include noise, dust, vibration, severance of local traffic and waste / spoil management.
  The ESIA and ESAP

The FYR Macedonian Government has since 2007 developed an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) in compliance with the local legislation, which is modelled on the EU EIA Directive. It was updated twice in March 2008 and July 2009. Two successive rounds of public consultation took place in the Project area in 2009 and 2010. Following this process the Project was duly permitted by the local Competent Authority.

Some limited gaps in the existing documentation have been identified against the EBRD 2008 Environmental and Social Policy.

These were addressed through the preparation of the following documents, which are publicly disclosed:

• Non Technical Summary: English (3MB - PDF) Macedonian (3MB - PDF)
• Stakeholder Engagement Plan: English (3MB - PDF) Macedonian (3MB - PDF)
• Land Acquisition and Compensation Plan: English (34KB - PDF) Macedonian (158KB - PDF)
• Environmental and Social Action Plan: English (100KB - PDF) Macedonian (394KB - PDF)

It mainly includes obligations in respect of re-afforestation (any surface deforested as a result of the project will be compensated by plantations of an equivalent surface in adjacent areas that have already been identified in detail), and in respect of construction phase environmental management. An environmental monitoring plan and management system will be put in place.

Macedonian version of ESIA

Full ESIA availability

Full ESIA documentation is available locally at:
EBRD Headquarters in London, environmentandsocial@ebrd.com

And

EBRD Resident Office Makosped building, 3rd Floor, Makedonija Street, 19
Skopje, 1000
FYR Macedonia
Tel: +389 2 3297 800

And

Full ESIA documentation is available electronically at: http://mtc.gov.mk/new_site/en/storija.asp?id=2821

Enquiries

Mr. Filip Ivanov.
Director of the Administration for Environment - Ministry of Environment and Physical Planning.
Blvd. Goce Delcev BB, 1000 Skopje

E- mail: F.Ivanov@moepp.gov.mk and enquiries@mtc.gov.mk