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| Media Headlines |
| (2012-02-17) |
| Last updated: 2012-02-20 14:48 EET |
Bucharest is buried under snowdrifts, and the only reason traffic is still flowing is because snow has already been cleared on main streets. Dozens of national roads and numerous county roads in southern and eastern Romania have been impossible to use all throughout this short period of harsh winter. Every time Romania sees massive snowfalls, the press reverts to its unremitting suspicions of the way paving and snow-clearing contracts were handed out, and the doubts looming over their efficiency.
“Check to ‘asphalt kings’”, headlines the daily paper Adevarul, in light of the recent disclosure of sky-rocketing costs of snow-clearing, which has stirred “a genuine bustle within state institutions, that have started launching one investigation after another”. The “asphalt kings” are the favourite clients of governments, as they always win road building and road maintenance contracts. The ministry of Transport has already referred the matter to the Court of Auditors, which is to evaluate snow-clearing contracts.
Adevarul also writes that the Romanian Competition Council has launched an investigation among contractors in charge of clearing snow in the capital-city Bucharest, which allegedly have a secret agreement to divide contracts among themselves in a rotation system. “We have clear evidence pointing to a mutual understanding among contractors that are being investigated to present formal bids in auctions, without actually competing”, said the head of the Romanian Competition Council, quoted by the press.
The daily paper Romania Libera has discovered that contractors demanded sums of money which exceeded the standard repairing and maintenance costs of national roads by 8 to 10 times. As a result, every year the Bucharest City pays 80,000 euros for every kilometer that needs maintenance, while at national level the price is 10,000 euros at most. Which means Bucharest residents are paying dearly to keep their streets in decent conditions and to have snow cleared. The daily paper Evenimentul Zilei reads that contractors are overwhelmed by the amount of snow in the Capital.
Meanwhile, forecasters bring no good news: the cold weather ahead means the huge snowdrifts are here to stay for another month before they melt down. As regards the status of national roads, where traffic is at a standstill with each blizzard, authorities decided to take action as to contain the effects of the massive snowfalls hitting the southern and eastern regions every year. Adevarul writes that the Highway and National Roads Company’s proceedings have been launched to expropriate certain land strips bordering national roads in its administration. The goal is to set up a network of forest shelterbelts to protect road traffic.
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