Accusations between VMRO-DPMNE and Grubi over Corridors Continue

VMRO-DPMNE disagrees with First Deputy PM Artan Grubi’s stands regarding the activities of Bechtel and ENKA in Serbia. “Serbia didn’t adopt laws in contradiction with the Constitution, didn’t put an equals sign between legal and illegal structures, and it received many more legal structures for a smaller amount of money,” VMRO-DPMNE Spokesperson Naum Stoilkovski says. According to Grubi, Bechtel and ENKA have an obligation to hire at least 51% with regards to local resources. However, he says that the opposition’s “blockade” will cost the country over 150 million euros and two years in lost time. “In Kosovo, over 70% of employees were local, while the level in Albania and Serbia was around 50%,” Grubi notes. The Government’s stand remains unchanged, that is, there are no harmful clauses even though several legal changes for favourable aspects for the contractor are needed. As PM Dimitar Kovacevski explains, the implementation and construction of Corridors VIII and X-d will enable 8,000 new jobs, new investments of 1.3 billion euros, and nominal GDP growth by 2% annually over the next five years.