Radio România Internațional

Tag: Transport Master Plan

  • The European Union invests in Romania’s transport infrastructure

    The European commissioner for regional policy Corina Cretu urged the Romanian authorities, politicians and the entire Romanian society to commit to the transport master plan to allow for the implementation of major projects in the field able to boost the country’s development.



    The European Commission is interested in building infrastructure in its less developed members that “stringently” need better road infrastructure, said the European commissioner for regional policy Corina Cretu on Wednesday in Cluj.



    The Trans-European Transport Network TEN-T is a priority for the Commission, said Cretu, who visited, together with transport minister Ioan Rus, a section of the Sebes-Turda motorway, a project that forms part of TEN-T. The motorway is to be finalised by mid 2016, will have a total length of 70 km and will connect the Transylvania motorway, in the centre, to the European Corridor IV that runs all the way to the Black Sea.



    To build the first section of the Sebes-Turda motorway, Romania will receive around 150 million euros from the European Commission. Commissioner Corina Cretu also urged the authorities, politicians and Romanian society to commit to the national transport master plan allowing for the implementation of major transport projects and providing the European Commission with a needed guarantee of stability. Efficient and sustainable infrastructure must be a priority if we wish to secure Romania’s connection to the main European transport corridors, Cretu also said. She held talks with minister Ioan Rus about the Large Infrastructure Operational Programme. Under the European Union’s 2014-2020 long-term budget, Romania has been allocated 9.5 billion euros to finance a number of projects in the area of transport, the environment and energy.



    Most of the money, 7.5 billion euros, is earmarked for the development of transport infrastructure. Romania will have access to these funds as soon as the European Commission approves its transport master plan, which, said minister Rus, is almost finalised. He also announced that the Transylvania motorway linking Brasov, in the centre, to Bors, in the west, on the border with Hungary, would be finalised in 2017 or 2018.



    A portion of the European funds will be invested in Romania’s 7 international airports and the rehabilitation of railroads. Ioan Rus also said the Romanian authorities would pay special attention to the Bucharest-Iasi-Chisinau high-speed rail. The European commissioner for regional policy Corina Cretu said Romania’s transport master plan would be approved by the European Commission by the end of May.


  • EU Funding for Transport Infrastructure

    Until 2020 the European Commission will contribute 6.8 billion euros for the infrastructure projects included in Romania’s Transport Master Plan, the European Commissioner for Regional Policy Corina Cretu announced in Bucharest on Tuesday, after talks with Transport Minister Ioan Rus. According to Corina Cretu, the European Commission pays special attention to Romania’s Transport Master Plan, a strategic document whose endorsement is a prerequisite for the disbursement of EU funding for large-scale transport projects in 2014-2020.



    Corina Cretu: “In the opinion of the Commission, the top priority of this Master Plan is to ensure the completion, in due time, of the projects that are part of the TEN-T network, the trans-European transport network.”



    Secondly, Cretu added, the Commission expects the document to identify the most important projects for the broadened TEN-T network, which in turn may benefit from European funding. This means that the Master Plan should include the most important projects, in economic terms, and ensure that they will receive financial support not only for construction as such, but also for maintenance, the EC official explained. She emphasized that the Master Plan is relevant not only for the current 7-year financing cycle, but also for Romania’s economic development in the next 15 to 20 years.



    According to Corina Cretu, Brussels is waiting for Romania to submit the final version of the document as soon as possible, hopefully next month, so that the Operational Programme “Large-Scale Infrastructure” may be signed in May.



    In his turn, Transport Minister Ioan Rus said a list of projects has been finalized, for all the components of the transport sector which will be included in the Transport Master Plan, namely road, naval, railway, and air transport. According to the minister, 25% of the costs will be covered by the European Union, 15% by the Romanian state, and the balance will come from loans taken from the European Investment Bank and the EBRD. Moreover, Rus added, the Government approved an additional contribution of 7 billion euros, to enable Romania to start as many of these projects as possible this year.



    Rus also said that on Wednesday and Thursday representatives of his ministry will have technical talks with EC officials in Brussels, concerning the final text of Romania’s Transport Master Plan and the Implementation Strategy, a key document that lays down project priorities, a calendar for implementation and the structure of funding sources for each project.

  • Romania’s new Transport Master Plan

    Romania’s new Transport Master Plan

    The strategic document under which Romania can receive European funding for big infrastructure projects has been under public debate since Wednesday. The General Transport Master Plan valid until 2030 basically provides for the construction of over 650 km of motorway and over 2,200 km of express road with the help of significant contribution from the EU. The targets seem extremely ambitious given that at the moment, after a lot of years of works and many unfulfilled promises, there are only 644 km of motorway and no kilometre of express road built in Romania. Prime Minister Victor Ponta gives details about the funding of the project:



    “The Transport Master Plan is drafted by the international company AECOM, which, I think, is the biggest in the world, and refers to the cohesion funds made available by the European Union. Other roads, like the Transylvania Motorway, are funded from the national budget, in particular the levying of an additional excise duty.”



    The document also provides for the Sibiu-Pitesti Motorway linking the centre to the south of Romania via the mountains to be turned into an express road; for the upgrading of railroads from Bucharest to Iasi, in the east, and to the border with Hungary, in the west; as well as for works to continue on the Bucharest-Danube Canal. In terms of costs, the Master Plan provides for over 650 km of motorway to be built with 6.3 billion euros, excepting VAT, and for over 2,200 km of express road to be built with nearly 17.5 billion euros, also excepting VAT.



    Experts claim that in case the road network is extended as envisaged, the main beneficiary will be the domestic economy itself. Strategic investors, such as the well-known carmakers Ford and Renault, operating in Romania for many years, have repeatedly complained that their business is directly affected by the existing road infrastructure. Experts believe that the country’s poor transport infrastructure is also to blame for the fact that Romania’s huge tourist potential has not been sufficiently explored.