The Bucharest-Brasov Highway will be ready five years from now, while the Bucharest to the Ploiesti-beltway section will be ready by the end of 2010, Minister of Transportation Radu Berceanu announced.
The Bucharest-Brasov Highway will be ready five years from now, Minister of Transportation and Infrastructure Radu Berceanu stated yesterday while visiting the construction sites of the Bucharest-Ploiesti Highway and the Ploiesti-West beltway accompanied by Prime Minister Emil Boc.
‘Five years from now we will be able to travel to Brasov on a highway,’ Berceanu said, being quoted by Agerpres.
The Bucharest beltway-Ploiesti highway will be ready by the end of next year, with 30 kilometers set to be completed this year. Nevertheless, the Moara Vlasiei-Ploiesti section that is set to be completed will not be opened to traffic because it lies between two bridges that won’t be finished earlier than next spring.
‘The works on the Bucharest-Ploiesti highway will be ready by the end of 2010, while the section between the Bucharest beltway and the capital city will register some delays because there are some problems with the relocation of the utility systems that belong to the Bucharest City Hall,’ Berceanu stated.
He added that for the Ploiesti-Comarnic section the Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure currently has no construction option and that the construction works could be granted or could be done by extending the project. The winner of the tender for the Comarnic-Brasov section will be chosen in the next ten days.
According to Berceanu, two of the highway’s sections could be financed in proportion of 50 per cent by the European Investment Bank (EIB).
‘At least two of the works could be financed in proportion of 50 per cent by EIB, with the remaining half set to be covered by the Romanian side,’ Berceanu said.
The rehabilitation and modernization works on the Ploiesti-West beltway are taking place on a 12.5-kilometer section of road. Apart from enlarging the road to four lanes, the works entail the construction of five flyovers. Pa & Co International has planned to finish the works by the end of November and early December 2009.
Italy’s Pizarotti Company works on the Bucharest-Ploiesti highway and Spedition UMB – Pa & Co International – Euroconstruct Trading works on the Moara Vlasiei – Ploiesti section (42 kilometers). The works are due to be finalized in early 2010, with their total value standing at approximately EUR 100 M.
Boc warns: ‘Funds depend on construction rhythm’
In his turn, Prime Minister Emil Boc has warned the builders of the Bucharest–Moara Vlasiei section that Government representatives will check the stage of the infrastructure works on a monthly basis and that the funds will also be earmarked depending on the rhythm of the construction works. Prime Minister Boc pointed out that the Government has earmarked 20 per cent of the budget for infrastructure.
The construction companies told the Prime Minister that the main problem has to do with the lack of budget allocations, with Boc nevertheless pointing out that the funds are distributed on the basis of the progress registered too.
EUR 5 per 100 km – sun highway tax starting in 2011
The Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure (MTI) wants to introduce a traffic tax on the Bucharest-Constanta Highway. ‘Gardianul’ daily informed yesterday that an average of EUR 5 per 100 km will have to be paid for driving on the Sun’s Highway.
The Ministry also announced that a traffic tax will be placed on the future Pitesti-Curtea de Arges section of the Bucharest-Pitesti Highway too. The construction of that sector will be put up for bids next year. The officials explained that the taxation services will be granted to a private company. That company will also be the one that will win the grant for the construction of the Bucharest beltway, a beltway that is set to be upgraded at the level of a highway.
The Ministry of Transportation could also grant the Pitesti-Sibiu highway section that is located on the Fourth Pan-European Corridor. The Pitesti-Sibiu Highway will include the section connecting Ramnicu Valcea and Curtea de Arges. The construction works will be split into the Pitesti-Curtea de Arges and the Curtea de Arges-Sibiu sections.
