The year 2015 will be the slowest in terms of new highway construction sites after 2008: only 10 kilometers between Pecica and Arad are scheduled for completion this year. Completion of another 6.5 kilometers between Soseaua Petricani and Bucharest Beltway is uncertain, considering a 3-kilometer section still does not have a builder.
This year’s performance is in stark contrast with what other countries in the region expect to complete in 2015. Bulgaria, for instance, expects to open for traffic 142 kilometers of highway, taking its total network to almost 770 kilometers, about 60 kilometers more than what Romania will have at the end of 2015, the Bulgarian Ministry of Regional Development and Public Works told ZF.
Hungary, too, plans to open about 55 kilometers of highway for traffic this year. The country has 1,390 kilometers of highway in use, double as many as Romania, according to the data Nemzeti Infrastruktura Fejleszto, CNADNR’s counterpart, provided.
One of the highways the Hungarian government plans to inaugurate this year will connect Mako and the Romanian border at Nagylak (Nadlac), which means the country will have one highway running from east to west at the Austrian border without interruptions.
“Any figure, promise or commitment about highways in Romania is a blemish on the reputation of politicians. They are talking about highways, expressways and national roads on mountain paths, while we have a bridge between two European countries (the Giurgiu-Ruse Bridge i.e.), whose Romanian side is unusable because of the many holes in it,” says Augustin Hagiu, transportation consultant.
How does Hagiu explain that Bulgarians, for instance, are able to do more when it comes to road infrastructure?
“They’ve got more common sense, they’re more responsible, they’ve got the attitude. It’s all about attitude.”
CNADNR had not replied to ZF’s question about the number of kilometers of highway to be opened for traffic this year by the time the story was ready for posting.
According to a reply it sent to Mediafax news agency in November 2014, this year should see the completion of the Pecica-Arad highway section and of the first 6.5 kilometers of the Bucharest-Ploiesti highway between Soseaua Petricani and Bucharest Beltway.
The situation of this particular highway section is uncertain, since the first 3.3 kilometer segment has been without a builder since last year, which means CNADNR will have to hold a new tender, likely followed by a time allotted to bidders to challenge the results. Under the circumstances, the inauguration of 6.5 kilometers is unlikely this year.
The year 2014 was a slow year for road infrastructure, as well, with only 50 kilometers of highway opened for traffic, less than half of the 2013 level.
(English version by Loredana Fratila-Cristescu)