Romania’s national roads authority CNADNR paid about EUR1.2 billion for these highways, or two thirds of their cost.
Despite the good weather in May, highway construction progressed rather slowly, even though some of the highways are behind schedule already. Most of the sections under construction now were supposed to be done by April, but the deadline was extended for fall or even winter.
CNADNR did not pay a single cent to any of the builders working on highways between May 1 and June 1, according to the calculations of ZF based on the data provided by the institution. The government slashed infrastructure investments this year, which raises the question how work will continue on the highways under construction this year.
The first section of the Lugoj-Deva highway, built by Italy’s Tirrena Scavi, Societa Italiana per Condotte D’Aqua and Cossi Costruzioni, saw most progress, 8%, in May. The 27.5 kilometer-long section is a little more than 72% done and the builders have collected more than half of the EUR162 million payment in the contract. Although it was supposed to be done in April, it fell behind and the new deadline is October 2013.
Some highway sections did not see any progress at all in May, such as Constanta bypass highway, which has been staying at 88% completion for a few months now. CNADNR expects the bypass built by Italy’s Astaldi and Spain’s FCC Construccion to be done by August and take some of the traffic that comes from the Sun Highway (A2, Bucharest-Constanta).
No work was done on the Suplacu de Barcau – Bors (west of the country) highway in May, either, and prospects for the next few months are rather gloomy because this section no longer has a builder. CNADNR terminated the contract with US’ Bechtel in May.
(English version by Loredana Fratila-Cristescu)