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

  • New East Africa highway connecting Kenya, Tanzania, South Sudan
    June 8, 2016
    East African countries continue to implement a road Master Plan developed jointly under the East African Community initiative and which aims at integrating the region’s transport corridors to meet the growing demand for road transport by the increasing intra-regional trade and vehicular traffic. Kenya has for example unveiled a US$280 million road rehabilitation project to improve its links with Tanzania and South Sudan with the backing of the African Development Bank (AfDB). Rehabilitation of the 172
  • Nicaragua road widenging and repair budgets
    March 6, 2018
    Nicaragua’s capital Managua is to benefit from a project to widen and upgrade the Pista Juan Pablo II road. Funding is being provide from a number of sources. The European Investment Bank (EIB) is providing US$136 million while the Central American Bank for Economic Integration (CABEI) is providing $105.5 million. The council of Managua meanwhile will provide $33.4 million. The work will see upgrades to 9.55km of the route, which also includes building new flyover sections.
  • STRABAG wins new Romanian dual carriageway deal
    July 27, 2021
    STRABAG has been awarded a major new Romanian dual carriageway deal.
  • Paying for road development
    April 21, 2016
    All around the world, road expansion and maintenance is both necessary and ongoing. In the developed nations the focus is more on road maintenance and widening, while developing nations are concentrating on new road construction. Road networks are crucial to economic development as well as political stability, which often go hand in hand. The massive growth in the US economy from the 1950s onwards was boosted strongly by the development of the country’s interstate network. But in recent times, funding