Eight Italian companies, among which Astaldi, Impregilo, Tirena Scavi, Studio Corona and Carena got major highway construction or national road upgrade and rehabilitation contracts.
The largest contract awarded by CNADNR in 2011 was won by a consortium of three Italian companies, Tirena Scavi, Societa Italiana per Condotte d’Acqua and Cossi Construzioni, the national company told ZF. The contract entails construction of 27.4-kilometer long Lugoj-Nod Dumbrava highway (western Romania), for which the three companies will get more than EUR160 million.
The second-largest contract awarded last year, which entails construction of the third section of the Orastie-Sibiu highway worth EUR144 million, went to the Italian-held Impregilo.
“We are not surprised by the presence of Italian contractors in this contract ranking considering Italian and Spanish companies are among the most important builders in Europe,” said Laurentiu Plosceanu, chairman of the Romanian Association of Building Contractors (ARACO). He added that one thing worth mentioning here was that companies winning contracts remained the same.
A signal of cooperation with Italian companies, and especially with Astaldi, came ten years ago when current president Traian Basescu was Bucharest mayor. Astaldi built the Basarab Overpass in the capital city together with Spain’s FCC Construccion for instance, one of the most important infrastructure projects of recent years, worth EUR240 million.
Italians are also familiar with the Romanian roads, with Tirena Scavi working on the Bucharest-Moara Vlasiei highway, a contract worth EUR184 million.
Last year’s most important contracts awarded by the CNADNR are Lugoj-Dumbrava, Orastie-Sibiu and Cernavoda-Medgidia (western, western-central and south-eastern Romania).
Austria’s Strabag, too, won about EUR209 million in contracts last year, among which the first section of the Orastie-Sibiu highway, worth EUR131 million.
Romanian companies, too, got some of the top twenty contracts in partnership with foreign companies.
Romstrade, controlled by Nelu Iordache, is building the 22.2-kilometer long first section of the Nadlac-Arad (western part of the country), together with Portugal’s Monteadriano and Romanian-held Donrep Construct (Dragos Niculae) for about EUR91 million. Straco Group (of brothers Alexandru and Traian Horpos) is building the second section (19.7 kilometers) of the Orastie-Sibiu highway for EUR90 million.
Bucharest-based Euro Construct Trading 98, controlled by businessmen Dan Besciu and Sorin Vulpescu got a contract for the 16 kilometer-long fourth section of the Orastie-Sibiu highway in partnership with Astaldi and Astalrom, worth EUR115.4 million.
Another Romanian builder among the most active in the road infrastructure business, Spedition UMB (Dorinel Umbrarescu) won highway and national road projects of EUR141 million. Its most important contract is the 9.5 kilometer first section of the Timisoara-Lugoj highway (western Romania), worth EUR50 million, which it will build along with Tehnostrade (controlled by Umbrarescu again) and with Italian-held Carena.
The highways for which builders were found last year are part of the European Corridor IV and should be completed by 2013, the Transport Ministry said.
(English version by Loredana Fratila-Cristescu)