Just 310 km of highway under construction

Prime Minister Emil Boc has repeatedly stated in the past two years that infrastructure investments are a priority and would pull Romania out of the crisis, but the situation is different in the field, as only 313 km of highway are under construction. Works are only 27% finalised on average, with deadlines for the completion of some highway sections being pushed back to 2011, when 83 km on IV-Nădlac-Constanța section may be delivered. The sluggish highway construction pace is likely to lead to the loss of EU funds for infrastructure, which are available until 2013, while the 1,000-km of highway target that authorities have been announcing over the past 10 years may be reached as late as in 2015-2020 at best, in 2080 at worst. The Transport Ministry, which has over the past three years had 2bn euros’ worth of EU funds available, has the lowest absorption level among ministries. By late June it had managed to draw only 1.87% of the EU funds allotted for the 2007-2010 period, namely 40m euros.