Over 2,000 km of expressways and motorways to be completed in eight years

Over 2,000 kilometers of expressways and motorways will be built in Romania in the next eight years, Transport Minister Ludovic Orban stated at a seminar on infrastructure yesterday, according to Agerpres. ‘It is time we treated the modernisation and upgrading of our transport infrastructure professionally rather than politically. I believe that my short term in office of just one and a half years has brought the most important infrastructure development worth more than EUR 500 M,’ said the official.

He thinks the road transport objectives are primarily in connection with Europe Motorway with financing already secured for almost all its segments. ‘About the Sun Motorway,’ tenders for both segments (Cernavoda-Medgidia and Medgidia-Constanta) have been already opened, will be evaluated and the winner will be determined by October 10,’ the minister explained.

For the Transylvania Motorway, the financing of the Bucharest-Ploiesti segment has been secured from the budget. The contract is for 62 km in a value of over EUR 100 M. The minister added that 6,000 km of European and national roads included in the European transport network would be upgraded and modernized.

The Ministry of Transport also plans to build ring roads around all county capitals as well as around localities with more than 30,000 inhabitants. ‘We have started tendering procedures to select the contractors for the building of the ring roads around county capitals such as Brasov, Bacau or Targu Mures’ said Orban. According to the strategy of the Ministry of Transport, the majority of the ring roads will be delivered in 2010 and 2011 with a few exceptions, meaning that, by 2013, Romania will have 50 ring roads with a total length of 715 km.

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