Corridor VIII is one of ten Pan-European corridors connecting the Adriatic and Black Sea by an east-west land route. Railway Corridor VIII, which passes through North Macedonia, has two missing links - one towards Albania and the other towards Bulgaria. Its total length in the country is 305 km consisting of three parts:
The eastern part towards Bulgaria is, for development purposes, divided into three sections. These are, running west to east, Kumanovo-Beljakovce (31 km), Beljakovce-Kriva Palanka (34 km), and Kriva Palanka-Deve Bair (23 km).
This WBIF technical assistance grant funds the supervision of the construction works for the section Beljakovce - Kriva Palanka.