A harsh critic
\nof the Bucharest government for what she sees as their inability to access
\nnon-repayable European funds for infrastructure, European Commissioner for
\nRegional Policy, Corina Cretu on Wednesday made the kind of announcement that
\nshe would like to have the opportunity to make more often. <\/p>\n
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She announced
\nthat the European executive green-lighted the allotment of 517 million euros
\nfor the construction of a segment of the metro line to connect Bucharest’s
\ncentral area to the Henri Coanda Airport in Otopeni. <\/p>\n
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The airport is
\nthe largest in Romania and has been included by the authorities in the Large
\nInfrastructure Operational Programme. The European co-financing will go into
\nthe construction of 6 kilometers, out of the total 14 connecting Gara de Nord
\nrailway station to Henri Coanda Airport. <\/p>\n
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The project also
\nprovides for the construction of six new underground metro stations between the
\n1 Mai area in the city centre and a commercial centre on the route to the
\nairport, as well as the purchase of 12 new trains. <\/p>\n
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This investment
\nby the Cohesion Fund will improve the daily lives of 1.8 million citizens who
\nwill benefit better transport connections to several destinations in
\nBucharest, Corina Cretu has explained. I hope, she went on to say, that by 2023,
\nwhich is the deadline for the project’s implementation, Romanian authorities
\nwill find solutions to complete constructions works on metro line 6, so that
\nthe new segment to the Otopeni International Airport becomes operational. <\/p>\n
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Minister for
\nEuropean Funds, Rovana Plumb, has hailed the announcement, saying that she
\nexpects Metrorex, the national company in charge with the metro’s
\nadministration, to start working on this project of high importance, in order
\nto improve transportation between the capital Bucharest and the Ilfov County.
\nConstruction works on the new metro line are due to start in the second half of
\nthis year. Why doesn’t the European Commission finance the whole project? <\/p>\n
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According to the
\nPro Infrastructura non-governmental association that constantly criticizes
\nRomanian authorities on how they handle the transportation sector, the reason
\nwould be that Bucharest has not provided credible information as to the
\npossible flaws in the project. The European Commission has voiced concern,
\namong other things, that the cost estimation is unrealistic, as it is below the
\naverage construction cost per kilometer in Romania, and criticizes the fact
\nthat the M6 metro line does not take into consideration the construction of the
\nnew terminal of the Henri Coanda Airport. <\/p>\n
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Other aspects
\nthat Bucharest has failed to clarify, according to Pro Infrastructure, concern
\nan even heavier traffic on the already busy national road 1, and the
\nexaggeratedly optimistic estimation of the duration of construction works, of only
\n4 and a half years.<\/p>\n
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<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The European Commission will partially finance the construction of the metro line to connect Bucharests centre to the Henri Coanda Airport in Otopeni<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":110,"featured_media":80710,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[37738],"tags":[28915,33067,34767],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-80709","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-today-in-the-news","tag-bucharest","tag-cretu","tag-otopeni"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n