“The Deva-Orastie section will be completed by May, and the rest of the sections under construction by the end of the year, except Orastie-Sibiu segment four, which should be completed next year. There were some problems, a landslide affecting six kilometers of this segment,” said Dan Sova, minister-delegate for infrastructure projects and foreign investments, who also supervises Romania’s national company in charge of highways and national roads CNADNR.
In other words, about 99 kilometers of the Deva-Sibiu highway will be open for traffic this year, with the road ending 16 kilometers before reaching Sibiu, where it should connect to the highway-standard beltway of the city.
The 32.5-kilometer Deva-Orastie section will be inaugurated in May, after about 15 kilometers between Deva and Simeria were opened for traffic in December 2012. There is no date set for completion of the four segments of the Orastie-Sibiu highway, but Sova says the first three of the will open for traffic this year. Although the four segments had been scheduled for completion in April 2013 they were only 50% or 60% done early in the month, according to CNADNR data.
“We will have a full report about the highway sections under construction at the end of May and see exactly why the delays. Primarily, CANDOR is to blame, because the expropriation was not done in time in order to clear the sites. 11 contracts are analyzed in this report,” Sova explained.
The 115 kilometers of Deva-Sibiu highway are part of the European Corridor IV, with investments paid for by EU funds and state budget funds.
(English version by Loredana Fratila-Cristescu)