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

  • Romanian road project
    February 29, 2012
    Romania's new Basarab-Constanta highway stretch and the Constanta ring road will be partially open for traffic in July 2011.
  • Strabag issues US$131.8million corporate bond
    May 3, 2012
    Austrian construction company Strabag SE has issued a US$131.8million (€100million) corporate bond. The fixed-interest bond has a term to maturity of seven years and a coupon of 4.25 % per annum. A Strabag spokesperson said the bond issue had already been met with great interest among institutional investors. It is also available for subscription to Austrian, German and Luxembourgian private investors until 8 May, 2012. With a face value of US$1,318 (€1,000), the bond is targeted not only at institutional
  • Record attendance for Istanbul’s E&E conference
    June 14, 2012
    The Eurasphalt & Eurobitume 2012 event in Turkey has attracted record attendance figures, although final figures were not available at the time of writing.
  • Tender opening for crucial new Bulgarian highway
    November 14, 2012
    The authorities in Bulgaria are in the tender process for the new Sofia-Kalotina highway project. The tender is for a 31.5km section of highway that will connect Bulgarian capital Sofia with Kalotina on the border with Serbia. The deadline for submitting the tender offers is 7th January 2013. Meanwhile in Sofia itself, a €100 million project to improve key roads in the city is now due to commence. Some €50 million of the funding required for the project is being provided in loan form by the European Invest