Romania wants highways. Under this slogan Romanians were called to protest on
\nMarch 15, for 15 minutes at 15:00 against the authorities’ lack of initiative
\nand disinterest in building new highways. The protest was called by a
\nbusinessman from Suceava, Stefan Mandachi, who earlier this month hired a firm
\nto build one meter of highway, the first and only segment of highway in
\nRomania’s poorest region, Moldavia, in the northeast. His invitation was
\nanswered by simple citizens, business people, county councilors and mayors,
\npastry shops, haberdasheries, schools, associations, syndicates and NGOs. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
We need highways to deliver our
\ngoods faster. Our car fleet is deteriorating fast on bad roads and maintenance
\ncosts are going up. Crossing the country takes a huge amount of time, which in
\nturn increases the costs of our products, simply because our personnel costs
\nare much higher. Accident risks are higher on bad roads crossing multiple towns
\nand villages, and Moldavia has been neglected in terms of road infrastructure,
\na message in support of the protest movement reads. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Road infrastructure is left
\nwanting not just in Moldavia, but everywhere else in the country. At the end of
\n2018, nearly three decades after the demise of communism and more than ten
\nyears since the country joined the European Union, Romania had only 800 kilometers
\nof highway, of which 700 were built by dictator Nicolae Ceausescu before 1989.
\nTransport Minister Razvan Cuc says he can relate to the Romanians who joined
\nthe protest as, he admits, their patience is wearing thin. The protest will
\nonly incite us to speed up our projects, modify the legislation and simplify
\nprocedures, says Minister Cuc, who believes the current state of affairs is
\nowed not just to the indolence of successive Governments, but also to bureaucracy. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Rail infrastructure doesn’t fare any better. People say traveling by train in
\nRomania is like seeing on repeat the saddest film ever made. Delays are
\nroutine, speed limits are embarrassingly low for the age of speed we are living
\nin, and the cars remind of World War II wagons. Many modernization works
\nsubside after a few years and need redoing. Under these circumstances, Minister
\nRazvan Cuc has promised that the budget for this year provides for enough funds
\nto maintain the rail network and cars.<\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Transport infrastructure in Romania is in dire need for fast and far-reaching measures<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":109,"featured_media":81064,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[37738],"tags":[30844],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-81063","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-today-in-the-news","tag-infrastructure"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n