Transport Minister Ioan Rus has presented on Wednesday Romania’s general Transport Master Plan before the parliamentary commissions on transportation, commissions convened in join meeting. He stated that the document, which includes infrastructure projects for 2014-2030 represents the result of an “absolutely scientific” analysis drafted by the biggest company in the world which specializes in this domain. The document covers highways, express ways, transregional raods, the development of naval transportation, ports, navigation ways, modal centers, air transport domain and railway transport domain.Rus stated that the number of approximately 1,300 kilometers of highway, as well as the need of over 2,000 km of four-lane expressways, and over 3,000 km of transregional roads, stems from this scientific analysis. He added that this is the semi-final form of the document, since the environment impact assessment also has to be finalized by the end of November, with the two documents being set to become an operational program.Romaina should build 656 kilometers of highway and 2,226 kilometers of expressways by 2030. The highway projects included in the Master Plan are Sibiu-Brasov (103 km), Ploiesti-Comarnic (49 km), Craiova-Pitesti (115 km), Comarnic-Brasov (54 km), Brasov-Bacau (158 km) and Gilau-Bors (177 km), the total cost estimated for these projects being of EUR 6.28 bln, VAT not included, according to a document provided by the Transport Ministry.Moreover, the Master Plan entails the construction of expressways totaling 2,200 km, the necessary funds for these projects totaling approximately EUR 17.5 bln, VAT not included. In the current option of the Master Plan, the Sibiu-Pitesti section (115 km), one of the most-awaited highways in Romania is labeled as a future expressway. At the end of last year Romania had 644 km of highway, 16,466 km of national roads, 35,587 km of county roads and 32,190 commune roads. According to the document, there are no expressways in Romania. The document also entails the construction of 2,674 km of transregional roads, 293 km of EuroTrans roads and 172 km of detour roads, the funds necessary for the development of the road sector totaling EUR 26.1 bln.America’s AECOM company is the Romanian state’s consultant for the drafting of the Master Plan, on the basis of a contract worth RON 9.5 M, VAT not included, a contract won in 2012. The deadline set by the authorities for the completion of the draft document has been moved forward several times.
