CNADNR, Romania’s national company in charge of highways and national roads, had a total budget of about EUR9 billion in 2009-2013, according to ZF calculations.
The company signed half of biggest 20 contracts in the last five years for highway construction, and the rest for national road upgrades or rehabilitation or road maintenance work.
The most valuable contracts were signed for the highways, especially on the former European Corridor IV, now known as Priority Axis 7, so they were 85% financed by the European Commission via the SOP-T (Sectoral Operational Program – Transport).
The biggest contract that CNADNR signed in 2009-2013 is the EUR178 million contract for the Deva-Orastie highway, which Austria’s Strabag and Romanian-owned Straco Grup won in 2010. The 32.5 kilometer long Deva-Orastie highway was completed in the first half of last year.
The second most valuable contract was signed for Lugoj-nod –Dumbrava where Italy’s Tirrena Scavi, Societa Italiana per Condotte d’Acqua and Cossi Construzioni started working in 2011 for about EUR162 million. The section was completed last year.
Third most valuable was the about EUR144 million contract signed with Italy’s Impregilo for the third segment of the Orastie-Sibiu highway in 2011. Work is not done yet and CNADNR estimates it will be some time in 2014.
The winners of the top 20 contracts awarded by CNADNR in the last five years include both Romanian-held and foreign private companies. Austria’s Strabag, Italy’s Impregilo and Astaldi, Germany’s Max Boegl and Israel’s Shapir Structures, along with Romanian companies like Straco Grup (Alexandru and Traian Horpos), Spedition UMB (Dorinel Umbrarescu) and Delta ACM 93 (Florea Diaconu) have won the main contracts tendered by CNADNR in the last few years.
Most highway construction contracts were signed in 2011 and in the second half of last year.
CNADNR had not returned ZF’s calls for comment on the top 20 contracts signed in the last five years by the time the story was ready for posting and did not specify the total value of the contracts signed in 2009-2013, either. CNADNR also did not answer the question about the top 10 contracts signed in 2013, which ZF asked at the beginning of January.
(English version by Loredana Fratila-Cristescu)