Bechtel to start highway next year

In an attempt to prove the Transylvania highway project really works, Bechtel invited the local media to visit the Savasdia and Ciurila construction site. Although Bechtel representatives claim 1,200 people have been hired, with 200 more on the way, work on section 2b seems to be advancing slowly. Work has progressed rather slowly since the last visit of Premier Tariceanu, with no more than 50 workers gathered together at the 16th kilometre site. Two graders and one excavator kept circling around the journalists, while Bechtel’s communication manager Bogdan Sgarcitu thanked the Transports Minister Radu Berceanu for his concern, which translated into buying protective helmets and reflective vests for all the workers. Bechtel officials announced that the pace of work on the Transylvania highway was picking up, that the value of the work on the two sectors in progress – 2b (Campia Turzii) and 3c (Suplacu de Barcau-Bors), was doubling every month and that the first kilometre of highway was set to be asphalted next year, even though the project had this set for 2009. These statements come after Transports Minister Radu Berceanu had said last week that Bechtel was unable to cope with the work on the Transylvania highway and not even half of the scheduled projects would be done this year. “We work as much as we possibly can, given the circumstances,” says Bechtel’s communication manager.