Macedonia to Revamp its Airports

Turkey’s leading airports operator TAV, which was chosen to do the works, will start building the new passenger terminal, extend the runway at Skopje's airport and revamp the Ohrid airport.

The start of construction of the new cargo airport near the central Macedonian town of Stip, initially planned for March as well, will have to wait for “several years” in order for “certain measurements compliant with international standards to be taken,” Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski said.

TAV Holding was the only contestant and winner on the airport tender in September 2008. The company has agreed to invest more than 200 million euros in Macedonia.

According to the initial terms, TAV was to start building right away. The company had two years since the laying of foundation to extend the capacities and modernize the two civil airports before it starts operating them. 

According to those terms, TAV is also obliged to build the cargo port a three year period.  The airport was intended to boost Macedonia’s fruit and vegetable exports by offering a quick route for fresh goods to European and other markets.

Alfa TV cited legal experts as saying that the parallel building of the cargo airport was the reason that deterred several serious investors from bidding on the 2008 tender because they did not see the venture as profitable.

But the Prime Minister insists that all is going well, is above board and legal.

“Everything is according to the international standards and as far as I know nothing in the contract has changed to relieve TAV from building that airport”, he stated.

Citing financial difficulties caused by the global economic crisis, TAV last year asked and got two postponements of the building start date. The Government set the start of March as the last deadline.

TAV Holding will begin to lay the groundwork in Skopje and Ohrid on 2 March, the company’s CEO Mustafa Sani Sener was cited as saying by Turkish newspaper Zaman. Saner said nothing about the cargo airport.

TAV built and runs the Kemal Ataturk airport in Istanbul and also has a role at airports in Israel, Georgia, and Tunisia. The company is involved in airport construction in Egypt and Qatar as well.

The company said it plans to significantly raise the number of passengers using both Macedonian airports once it takes over their management.