Burci sells half of Astra Vagoane Arad lands

Astra Vagoane Arad, a producer of freight carriages and a division of the International Railway Systems (IRS) group controlled by businessman Cristian Burci, is to sell the company’s stake in five plots of land, including related buildings, with a total area of 17.67 hectares (which accounts for 50% of the overall land owned by the company), with a view to purchasing a new plot of land. Last month, the company announced that by 2013 it would move its plant to the outskirts of the city and sell its land in the centre of Arad to investors interested in real estate projects. The construction of the new plant will start in the second half of 2008 and will take between three and five years to complete. The future headquarters of the plant will cover between 20 and 25 hectares and will cost between 60 and 80m euros. Astra Vagoane Arad was taken over by IRS in mid 2006.