She added the ministry will announce how the privatization procedure will continue after that date.
The government has not extended the privatization deadline of railway freight carrier CFR Marfa in Wednesday’s Cabinet meeting. The Transport Ministry had drafted a government decision extending the deadline for the completion of the sale until December 20 instead of mid-October but the issue was not put on the meeting agenda.
Manescu said she would discuss the CFR Marfa issue wit Prime Minister Victor Ponta later Thursday.
Gruia Stoica, owner of GFR, said the company is prepared to pay the remainder of the price for CFR Marfa but the state has to meet its obligations and the deal must first be cleared by antitrust authorities.
“So far, I have met all my obligations, I have transferred EUR30 million and treated this privatization process very seriously and I want to see it through. If the seller doesn’t get a deadline extension that’s its problem and we’ll see what we can do to at least recover our costs from the process,” Stoica told MEDIAFAX.
GFR transferred EUR20 million into an escrow account, accounting for 10% of the sale price, and previously paid a EUR10 million guarantee to be allowed to bid for CFR Marfa.
CFR Marfa is the largest freight carrier in Romania and GFR is its main competitor.