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| Termination of Contract with Bechtel |
| (2013-05-31) |
| Last updated: 2013-06-03 19:41 EET |
One of the most controversial and disadvantageous contracts the Romanian state has concluded with a private company was that on the building of the Brasov-Bors segment of the Transylvania motorway, signed in 2003. The initial value of the contract stood at 2.2 billion euros but in ten years, the American company only built 52 kilometers out of a total of more 400 kms planned, for which it got 1.5 billion euros.
Simple calculations show that for every kilometer of motorway, Romania has paid 30 million euros. The Transylvania motorway was supposed to be completed in 2011, but the deadline was extended after the works had been stalled in 2005. The contract has been eventually cancelled, but the American partner made the most of it, and Romania will have to pay more than 37 million in damages plus debts of 50 million euros.
The Romanian minister for infrastructure projects, Dan Sova, has mentioned some of the advantages of canceling the contract: “The advantage is that we managed to convince Bechtel to accept to cancel the contract at 37.2 million euros, which I believe it’s a gain. We are going to redo the traffic and feasibility studies for this motorway. We have agreed with the Authority for Highways and National Roads to keep the same consultant so that we may not waste any time. And we have good news; there are many big companies interested in the concession of this project.”
According to Romanian Prime Minister Victor Ponta, the money due to be paid to Bechtel will come from the state budget. The Romanian official has added that the highway segment linking Cluj to the Arad-Sibiu highway will be put up for tender. Minister Dan Sova has estimated that two new highways, Comarnic-Brasov and Craiova-Pitesti, as well as the Bucharest ring road, are to be completed until the 2016 election.
These projects are underway and the contractors are to be announced by the end of the year. The absence of these highways has always been a nightmare for motorists in Romania. Their construction is agonizingly slow, dragging on for years. Every once in a while authorities in Romania inaugurate a couple of kilometers of motorway but the National Statistics Institute shows that, with only 530 kilometers of motorways, Romania is lagging way behind other countries in south-eastern Europe. By the end of this year, authorities in Romania are planning to inaugurate about 140 kilometers of motorway.
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2025-04-03
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