Freight Carriers Protest Fees at Kosovo-North Macedonia Border

This alternative road allowed freight carriers to pass for free and then pay custom's fees at the customs terminal of their choice.

The road was constructed in 2014, by the Kosovo Ministry of Infrastructure on the property of a company, Terminali L.L.C, which immediately sued the ministry for removing the barriers and constructing a free-of-charge road.

The barriers returned last Thursday, on October 21, since when freight carriers have to pay a fee.

Freight carriers told BIRN they want the construction of an alternative route, alongside the customs, on state property.

"Until [last] Thursday we didn't have to pay," one told BIRN, adding that they paid a fee a few years ago, before the government constructed the alternative road.

"The property is privatised and they [the owners] have won a case [in court]," the freight carrier said.

"We need a solution, we should not have to pay a private [company] when, alongside this, we have to pay custom's clearance, meaning another 40 euros. This is too much."

Privatization of property close to border

Barriers placed at the alternative route, illegally constructed by the Kosovo Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport, in the Hani i Elezit/ Djeneral Jankovic Kosovo-North Macedonia border. Photo: BIRN

In April 2010, the property, close to the Kosovo customs office in Hani i Elezit/ Djeneral Jankovic, at the crossing border point between Kosovo and North Macedonia, was privatized by the company Terminali L.L.C, where a factory was previously located. 

Based on a 2104 lawsuit, seen by BIRN, Terminali L.L.C. sued the Kosovo Infrastructure Ministry for obstruction of possession of the property which it bought in one of the Kosovo...