Romania has only managed to draw EUR 30 M of the EUR 4.57 bln made available by the European Union (EU) for infrastructure, according to ‘Romania Libera’ daily. EU procedures are already cumbersome, but Romanian officials don’t even start them. This is the explanation for the low EU infrastructure funds’ absorption rate. The absorption rate does not exceed 50 per cent on any of the segments from Nadlac to Constanta. In 2012, Hungary will complete the last motorway segment connecting it to Romania – Mako-Nadlac. Afterwards, motorists will drive from a brand-new motorway of four lanes onto a patched-up national road where areas with two lanes each way are are rarity. The Bucharest orbital road currently has two operational traffic lanes, but is in process of being expanded to four. The cost of EUR 240 M has already been exceeded. It is designed as an intermediary solution until a new, motorway-like ring road is developed. Originally announced in 2008 with a completion term in 2011 and envisaged as a concession, the project has been buried altogether.
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