Again about Romania’s road infrastructure

Three decades on from the fall of the communist regime, and 13 years from the countrys EU entry, Romanians are still waiting for the motorways promised by the authorities

România Internațional, 20.01.2020, 13:50

The construction of motorways, one
of Romania’s weak points, has again come to the attention of the authorities in
this country who are still looking for solutions. 30 years on from the
anti-communist revolt and 13 years of EU membership, the country is still in
dire need of motorways.

Romania has no motorways to link
the country’s south to its central regions or the centre to its eastern
regions. The country’s Liberal Prime Minister Ludovic Orban has recently
announced the government is to make a decision on the construction of Comarnic
– Brasov motorway segment by the end of January.

He believes this project should be
funded from the budget and not through public-private partnership. A
feasibility study on this project should be carried out and the bidding started
shortly. Referring to the construction of the motorway linking Targu-Mures to
Iasi, Orban has revealed the authorities’ intention to apply for EU funds for
the feasibility study.

The statements came days after a
series of government debates over an ordinance on canceling contract procedures
on public-private investment underway at the National Committee for Strategy
and Forecast. The head of the Prime Minister’s chancellery, Ionel Danca, last
Thursday announced that public-private partnership procedures for the
aforementioned two motorway sections would be cancelled.

Referring to one of Romania’s most
important road infrastructure projects funded through EU funds, the
Pitesti-Sibiu motorway, the authorities in Bucharest gave assurances last week,
the project would continue and the European Commission would receive all the
clarifications requested for the funds application to follow all the legal
steps.

The EU could fund 85% of the
project’s total value of 1.3 billion Euros.

We recall that Brussels had
approved the application but suspended the funding procedure as the 100
kilometer motorway is to be crossing 11 Natura 2,000 sites with protected
wildlife and the EU believes that not enough measures have been taken for the
protection of these sites.

We recall that at the end of 2018,
Romania had only 800 kilometers of motorway, out of which 100 had been built
during the communist regime. Exasperated by the authorities’ lack of initiative
and interest in this issue, a Romanian, Stefan Mandachi, hired a specialized
company and in 2019 symbolically built a one-meter motorway, in Romania’s most
disadvantaged region. In 2020 Romanians are still waiting for the motorways
pledged by the authorities.

(translated by bill)