Although it was supposed to be done by April, it was delayed and the latest promise from Romania’s national company in charge of highways and national roads CNADNR set September as the inauguration month.
Work on the first section of the Lugoj-Deva highway (West of Romania) between Sanovita and Dumbrava, a EUR162 million project paid for with European funds started in the second half of 2011. It only picked up the pace in the last twelve months, when the builders completed two thirds of it, according to the data CNADNR supplied to ZF.
The highway section was 84.2% complete at the beginning of September, but CNANDR says it will open to traffic this month.
In addition to the 27.6 kilometer section expected to be done this month, another 10.5 kilometer highway grade road should be completed in December and link Lugoj-Deva highway to the Lugoj city beltway.
The first section of the Lugoj-Deva highway will remain unconnected to any other highway section for at least one and a half or two years, because work on the sections continuing it eastwards, Deva-Orastie, and westwards to Timisoara has not started yet.
CNADNR has just signed the contract for the second section of the Lugoj-Deva highway and has not completed the tender for the second section of the Timisoara-Lugoj highway yet.
The builders of the first section of the Lugoj-Deva highway are Italy’s Tirrena Scavi, Societa Italiana per Condotte D`Aqua and Cossi Costruzioni. The three had collected about EUR115.5 million of the EUR162.2 million contract by early August.
According to the latest estimate of the national company in charge of highways and national roads, almost 100 kilometers of highways part of the European Corridor IV will open for traffic this year.
(English version by Loredana Fratila-Cristescu)