The Ministry of Transport reached a European funds’ absorption degree of 11 pc, after cash inflows worth EUR 330 M this year, up about 10 pc against last year, when payments worth EUR 16 M have been made, Mediafax informs.
“During 2007-2010, we contracted EUR 1.7 bln, and in 2011 the sum is EUR 1.8 bln. We had payments of EUR 330 M, and the target for next year is to reach an absorption level of 40 pc,” the minister of Transport and Infrastructure, Anca Boagiu said yesterday in a press conference. Through the Sectoral Operational Programme – Transport (SOPT) 2007-2013, the ministry benefits from European funds worth EUR 4.6 bln, plus co-financing from the state budget, worth EUR 1.1 bln. Romania thus currently has approximately 370 km of motorway, with 434 more being in construction (EUR 4.09 bln), 25.6 km (EUR 134 M) in the contract signing phase, and 111 km (EUR 1.1 bln) waiting for contracts to be awarded through auction. For the railroad infrastructure, CFR companies currently have auctioned projects worth EUR 2 bln, which refer to modernising lines and stations. A total 230 km of railway were upgraded this year, on the route Predeal-Campina-Bucharest-Fetesti-Constanta, with the total length of 363 km.
The minister also evoked the opening of the ferry line between Constanta and Istanbul, the start of works for the Drumul Taberei-Opera metro line 5 of Bucharest, setting up the Bucharest Metropolitan Transport Authority, and the modernisation of the Otopeni and Baneasa airports.
In a different move, the Transport minister added that some presidents of county councils blackmail motorway construction companies to restore local roads or dispensaries in exchange of licenses for works to the motorway.
