Alpine signed contracts worth EUR120 million last year, with the bulk of them, around 80%, being in the area of public projects.
“Whereas years ago 70-85% of our contracts were accounted for by the private sector, now the share has been reversed. We invested in improving our personnel and the organization in order to meet the new market challenges and demand,” said Ionel Giuglea, general manager of Alpine Romania.
One of the challenges that the manager has identified in the construction of public projects is that “you run the risk of working and not getting your money because you don’t have an environment certificate or some such.”
However, the company says so far it has not yet faced major problems in this respect. Giuglea also says public projects require a higher number of employees in order to meet all requirements. “Whereas for a private project you need 5 to 10 people, for a public project 25-30 people are needed,” Giuglea said.
Alpine had turnover of around EUR100 million last year, up from around EUR85 million in 2010. “In 2012 we estimate we will have a turnover of around EUR120 million. We are basing this estimate on our existing portfolio of contracts,” Giuglea explains.
Building highways and railways
One of the leading projects won last year by Alpine was the construction of a 16.7-km section of Nadlac-Arad highway for around EUR96 million.
“We are happy about the stage of the project and if the financing goes well and no major contractual deviations occur, the section is set to be ready by April 2013,” Giuglea said. Alpine won another contract towards the end of last year, to modernize the Sighisoara-Atel railway, which is 23.3 km long and has a contractual value of around EUR205 million. Alpine will work alongside FCC Construction and Azvi as part of this contract.
Recently, national roads authority CNADNR, has put up for auction the construction of 97 km of highway on Pan-European Corridor IV, whose cumulated value is around EUR870 million. Asked if Alpine is set to take part in the auctions for these highways, Giuglea said it was a matter of time until a decision would be made at the company’s Austrian headquarters.
Private projects that Alpine is working on include Henkel’s adhesives plant in Roznov, and the grain silo that Alfred Toepfer is building in Giurgiu, according to information available on Alpine’s website.
Alpine has budgeted investments of EUR3-3.5 million for this year, which will go into developing the company’s ongoing projects. Alpine has around 450 employees in Romania and plans to increase personnel by 5-10% this year.
One of Alpine’s reference projects on the Romanian market is Petrom City, the EUR130 million project that accommodates 2,500 employees of Petrom, the largest company in Romania.
(English version by Daniela Stoican)