HISTORY

In the period after the Second World War from 1945-1957 the roads in Macedonia were in catastrophic condition. The first steps into the process of reconstruction of the roads was made by the new-formed sectors for roads with main offices in Skopje, Tetovo, Kumanovo, Titov Veles, Stip, Bitola and Ohrid. The work of the road sectors was coordinated by the Republic Directorate of Roads that among other things also took care for the accessibility and the maintenance of the principal road network. Their primary task was renewal and reconstruction of some of the roads and as result of that were modernized more than 200 km. Characteristic for this period from 1958 till 1965 is that the work was intensified. The first program for construction of roads was adopted in 1966 which means that it has already been started with the systematic and long-term work. The main credit for that have the Ministry of transport at that time and the Directorate of Roads. In this period was formed the Directorate for construction of the motorway “Bratstvo-edinstvo” passing through Macedonia in total length of 162 km. The Republic Fund for Roads was formed in April 1965 and since then in Macedonia were constructed, reconstructed and modernized roads in total length of 611 km. In 1966 for the first time the companies for roads were integrated in one company Makedonijapat. In the same period was prepared a five-year program for reconstruction of the road network in duration till 1970. The investment functions for realization of this program till 1969 were under the authority of Makedonijapat whereas in 1970 they were taken-over by the Republic Fund for Roads. According the program by which was foreseen a construction of 425,4 km till 1970 were constructed and reconstructed total 372,4 km of road while the remaining 52 km were realized in 1972. The work on reconstruction of the road network does not end here. In the period till 1975 it was working intensively and prove for that are the new-constructed 11 road routes in total length of 537 km. In this period for the needs of the financial program was formed Council of construction, maintenance and reconstruction of the roads and within its framework was organized and functioned Technical Service. The primary task of the Council in the period that comes was the construction of the motorway Bratstvo-Edinstvo. This important project was realized in 1980 thanks to the announced loan for roads as well as thanks to the participation of the citizens of the Republic of Macedonia. With this important intervention were constructed 431 km of roads and record 1.537 km constructed local roads. The realization of the projects foreseen with the medium-term program for the period from 1981 to 1986 was taken-over by the new-formed Republic Self Management Community for Roads. In this period the Self Management Community undertook the entire coordination of the work regarding the construction, reconstruction and modernization of the roads. In this medium-term period were constructed over 630 km of roads that lead to the villages and on the critical places were set up new stations for maintenance of the roads. In the past some of the road routes were constructed with foreign loans while for the period till 1988 it is characteristic that the construction of the roads was realized with own funds. For the first time the funds collected from the tolls on the toll plazas on the motorway Kumanovo-Titov Veles were used as revenues. At the same time the construction of the toll plazas Kumanovo, Sopot and Otovica was finished. In Macedonia despite the fact of working with outdated technology and minimum finances, still were made the first steps for investment and construction of the road network. Generally the development of the road network in the period after the Second World War was successfully realized because of the great persistence of the Self Management Community for roads. From the moment when the new Public Roads Law was adopted in 1996 till today the Fund for National and Regional Roads of the Republic of Macedonia is functioning.