“Without infrastructure, an economy is considered old and slow, it cannot be competitive. This is why I hope it will be the government’s priority to develop infrastructure in order to allow the Romanian economy to grow,” said Battista, CEO of the Prysmian group.
The Italian executive was present in Romania at the end of last week at the inauguration of a EUR15 million investment in fiber optic cable production at the Italian group’s Slatina plant, which last year had a turnover of EUR110 million.
“I first came to Romania in 1991. Now I am back and I can say the country is changing, but not as fast as other countries in the region and of course I don’t mean Bulgaria, but Hungary is changing fast, so is the Czech Republic.”
Prysmian Cabluri si Sisteme Slatina, the local subsidiary of the Italian group, is one of the top players on the market of electric equipment in Romania and is competing for the no. 1 spot on the Romanian cable market with Greek-held Icme Ecab.
Battista says the EUR15 million investment recently completed in Slatina, is aimed at consolidating the group’s position in the region as it considers Romania as one of the countries with great potential in Europe.
These are the first statements to the press that Prysmian representatives have made in the past few years after a period of discretion, especially during the crisis years that Romania experienced after 2008.
Following the investment, the plant in Slatina has tripled its production capacity of fiber optic cables dedicated to the telecommunications sector. However, power cables make up the bulk of the company’s EUR110 million turnover, accounting for around 70% of the sales.
“Today Europe is significantly behind Japan, Korea and even China, which brought their infrastructure up to standards. We expect Europe to also move in this direction, this is why we have decided to invest here, in order to have a competitive capacity.”
Francesco Fanciulli, manager over Central and Eastern Europe of Prysmian and general manager of the Slatina plant, said it was not the low labor costs that prompted the group to invest in Romania, but the fact that the company found the well-qualified workforce they needed here.
“The EUR15 million we have invested in the production of fiber optic cable is part of a strategic plan to invest a similar amount in the medium term of 3-5 years. We are looking with great interest at any opportunity that may emerge on the Romanian market as far as infrastructure is concerned and as Prime Minister Ponta [who attended the inauguration] said, major projects will come soon. I am talking about the project for a submarine direct current cable linking Romania and Turkey,” Fanciulli said.
(English version by Daniela Stoican)