In just two months, September and October, the ten construction sites monitored by ZF had recorded an average 10% advance. The comparison makes sense considering that the weather was good enough between November and January, with positive temperatures, while the freezing weather only struck in the second half of January. In fact, former transport minister Anca Boagiu told constructors last year to also work during the wintertime, considering that it is technically possible.
The ZF calculation on the average progress of motorway construction during the two periods is a simplistic one and was done as an arithmetic mean of the differences in the execution stage between the end and the beginning of the periods considered.
For the September-October period, it was possible to calculate the progress for five highway construction sites, while for November-January the progress could be calculated for eight construction sites.
The biggest advance, of around 14%, was recorded by the Arad beltway during the three-month period between November and January. It which was 85% finalized at the beginning of February.
On the other hand, the Bucharest-Moara Vlasiei highway, which is set to be finalized this year, has stagnated, remaining at 2% for the first six km in the Bucharest-Ploiesti direction and at 95% for the next 13 km. “The first, 6.6 km-long section, is set to be completed in October this year, while the second, 13-km one is due in the second quarter of 2012,” says Daniela Draghia, general manager of the roads authority.
A surprise came from Suplacu de Barcau-Bors motorway, where works were resumed after over a year of being suspended, and advanced by around 7.5%.
US company Bechtel, the builder of the highway, has to finalize around 18 km out of a total of 64 of this section, with the rest of the highway set to be completed in 2013. Bechtel has already collected around EUR267 million for the Suplacu de Barcau-Bors highway.
A 10% advance was also achieved for works on the Moara Vlasiei-Ploiesti highway, which were supposed to be finalized in December last year but the deadline was extended until the second quarter of this year, according to the roads authority.
As for the Deva-Orastie highway, the advance is of around 6%, with the section currently being 20.6% completed.
On average the ten construction sites monitored by ZF are 70% finalized, without considering the Cernavoda-Medgidia and Nadlac-Arad (lot 2) highways, for which the roads authority has not provided data on the stage of works.
Moara Vlasiei-Ploiesti highway
Current advance: 10%
Previous advance: 6%
Bucharest – Moara Vlasiei highway
Current advance: 0%
Previous advance: 10%
Arad – Timisoara highway
Current advance: 12%
Previous advance: 10%
Arad beltway
Current advance: 14%
Previous advance: 16%
Constanta beltway
Current advance: 2%
Previous advance: 7%
Medgidia- Constanta highway
Current advance: 6.7%
Previous advance: N/A
Cernavoda – Medgidia highway
Current advance N/A
Previous advance: N/A
Suplacu de Barcau – Bors highway
Current advance: 7.5%
Previous advance: N/A
Deva-Orastie highway
Current advance: 5.85%
Previous advance: N/A
Nadlac-Arad highway, lot 2
Current advance: N/A
Previous advance: N/A
Note: The “current advance” refers to the advance in percentage terms of the stage of the highway between November 1 2011 and February 1 2012, while the “previous advance” refers to the advance in the execution stage between September 1 and October 31 2012.
(English version by Daniela Stoican)