Skip to main content

Romanian road issues

Political controversy is looming with the revelation that Romania's National Road Company (CNADNR) has spent some €1.5 billion on upgrading 2,800 km of roads since 2004.
March 5, 2012 Read time: 2 mins
Political controversy is looming with the revelation that Romania's National Road Company (2870 CNADNR) has spent some €1.5 billion on upgrading 2,800 km of roads since 2004.

The funding for the road improvements was supplied jointly by Romania's state budget as well as from European sources. One issue is that CNADNR has been accused of mis-spending over €93 million of 2332 World Bank funding in 2004, when it missed targets set by the bank intended to establish project management standards. Although funding has been routed from international sources into Romania's road network, little benefit appears to have been achieved so far. Romania's road authorities have invested in feasibility studies for highway projects but the amount of construction work carried out to date has been minimal.

For example, only now is Austrian contractor 945 Strabag working on a project to upgrade Romania's DN14 and DN15A national roads in deals worth a total of some €106 million. STRABAG's deal will see the firm upgrading a total of 150km of road, with the work commencing in April 2011 and scheduled for completion in March 2013. As part of its contract, STRABAG will widen and improve the existing road network, upgrade bridges, and install safety measures. The work forms part of the sixth rehabilitation programme of national roads in Romania and is financed by funds from the 1054 European Investment Bank and from the national budget.

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • Contractor Strabag reports strong performance
    April 30, 2013
    Austrian contractor STRABAG reports healthy earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT) of €207 million in 2012. This figure beats the firm’s own expectations and the expectations of the market. Net income after minorities stood at €61 million, showing an expected considerable decrease of 66.67% compared to the year before. “An output volume of €14 billion in 2012 – that’s nothing to complain about. With €13.2 billion, the end-of-the-year order backlog is also nearly exactly at the pre-crisis level of 2008, s
  • Nepal's highway plans
    March 22, 2012
    The Nepalese Government is working on plans to build a series of highways that will improve north-south connectivity for this mountainous country.
  • Funds for Poland’s highways maintenance, repairs
    May 14, 2012
    Poland’s government plans to boost highways spending in 2011 with a budget of €8.72 billion, an increase of €3.73 billion over the budget set for 2010. However, there is some scepticism as to how such a substantial sum will be found, especially given the spending restrictions the country is already seeing.
  • Morocco tender
    May 3, 2012
    The Moroccan Government is increasing its investment in roads and highways by 21% from last year. The country intends to spend US$6.32 billion on improving the road network. A further $14.5 billion is expected from private sources and other funding bodies. Work on the El Jadida-Safi highway project will commence in 2012 and is expected to cost $497million. Work on the Tit Mellil-Berrechid highway section will cost $152.55 million. The authorities in Morocco are now assessing 13 bids submitted in the tender