Million-worth investments for Romanian transport
The Transport Ministry signed at the beginning of November
2000 an accord for five urban and national transport projects. The European Investment
Bank (EIB) will grant Romania a loan with a total value of Euro 397 million for a 15-year
period with a five-year grace period. Along with Anca Boiangiu, the Transport Minister
were also presents Mr. Wolfgang Roth, EIB vice-president, Madam Valentina Siclovan, state
secretary with the Finance Ministry and beneficiaries of the projects.
The European Bank for Investments is a financing organism of the European Union and the
first loans were granted to Romania in 1991. The projects financed by EIB aim to better
the efficiency of activity, safety and comfort of passengers and drivers on national
roads, of those who make use of the harbor infrastructure of Romania and of those that use
common transport means in the capital. 
The five large projects are as follows:
1. The project for rehabilitation of national
roads (stage 4) with a value of Euro 245 million (AND is the beneficiary), including the
corridor that links Cluj-Napoca to Suceava and the road between Simeria and Petrosani;
2. The modernization project for the Bucharest
Metro (stage 3) with a value of Euro 115 million (METROREX is the beneficiary) that aims
to modernize 60 trains and finalize the building 4.8 km of metro rails between the Belt
Lines and Nicolae Grigorescu stations in the south;
3. The project to modernize railways (stage 2)
with a value of Euro 15 million (CFR SA is the beneficiary) for co-financing with a view
to buy maintenance equipment for railways and support cables and a computerized system for
fees and reservations;
4. The project to make the Constanta Harbor
ecologically correct and expand facilities for power feed in the Constanta Sud area with a
value of Euro 15 million (the Constanta Harbor Administration is the beneficiary) for a
series of investments needed to better the environment protection in the port area and to
insure the optimal power fed to for commercial companies operating in the south area of
the harbor;
5. The project to buy a modern system for
unified fee application to be installed in buses with a value of Euro 7 million (the
Bucharest City Hall is the beneficiary).
EIB granted loans starting with 1999 with a total value of
Euro 12 billion to projects to be realized in the 10 countries who want to adhere to the
European Union: Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, The Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary,
Slovenia, Romania and Bulgaria.
EIB financed in Romania various project with ver 2.1 billion Euro of which more than 1.4
billion was given to transport infrastructure.
The purpose of this project is to
rehabilitate and modernize several sectors of the Romanian network that includes European
roads. The following corridors are targeted:
• Platform 1: Cluj-Napoca - Dej - Bistrita - Suceava;
• Platform 2: Petrosani - Simeria;
• Platform 3: Lugoj - Caransebes - Turnu-Severin - Craiova.
The rehabilitation and modernization will include the reinforcement of
the road already existent or building new sections. In the great majority of cases, the
road will be widened with 0.75 meters - up to 2.5 meters, on both sides as the traffic may
require. For hill areas, traction bands will be added where needed. The project includes
rehabilitating the drainage infrastructure and bridges, consolidation works, reinforcement
walls, ditches, rehabilitating access roads for 25 meters to intersections, installing
signposts and marking the roads. The final estimated term is 2004.
The Railway Modernization Project
The project aims to increase the quality
of passengers transport services, improving the maintenance for the railway network that
suffered from lack of maintenance works and financial resources.
The project is threefold:
a. Online sale system for tickets that will
reduce significantly the time needed to issue tickets and reservations error-free. The
online system will allow reservations from all ticket offices;
b. 30 multi-functional self-propelled machines
for rails (MSM) capable to ambulate on rails and on roads. Such machines will perform a
number of maintenance operations like: digging, cleaning ditches, dispose with vegetation
along lines, transporting raw materials and collecting ballast;
c. 32 (VM-C) vehicles for maintenance. The
vehicles will have a platform that will be able to rise from 3.5 meters to 6 meters above
the rails with an electric generator for the supply of tools and a crane. The final
estimated term is December 2003.
The project of modernization for the Bucharest
Metro 
The project aims to preserve the infrastructure of the extension of the metro line from the Nicolae Grigorescu station to the Belt Line and the modernization of 60 trains of the existing rolling stock material. Preservation works are estimated to end during the first half of the year 2004 and those of modernizing the rolling stock material at the end of 2006.
Constanta Harbor infrastructure and environment
project
This
project aims to draw studies for the preparation of the construction, acquisition and
services for starting and operating the management facilities for waste in the Constanta
Harbor along with the modernization of the supply system for electrical power for the
port.
The components of the project are as follows:
a. A multifunctional ship for collecting all
the offals, for recuperation of water from within the over flow control room, of refusals
and of solid and liquid offals gathered on the surface of the harbor basin;
b. A new treating residual waters facility,
with a capacity of approximately 520.000 tones per year, for treating the used waters from
Oil Terminal and of waters with oil residuum gathered from ballast tanks and from washing
oil and chemical tanks;
c. An incinerator for burning out the infested
offals gathered by the ships from the water surface within the basins, from medical
facility units within the harbor area, and from the hospitals of Constanta;
d. Sealing the existing garbage pit and
covering its superior part, the short-term insuring of a new pit with a capacity of
approximately 165.000 tones, in order to collect all solid toxic residuum from the harbor;
e. Expending the current capacity of the
electric supply system regarding South Constanta Harbor, by installing two other supplying
110 kW lines at Eforie Nord station, of a new 4 Port Inner station, as well as of other
two transformers type 40 MVA of 20/110 kW.
Commissioning of the components, after obtaining all the
necessary testing permits, will be December 31, 2003.
As related to the Financing agreements, Mr. Wolfgang Roth,
Vice-president of International European Bank (IEB) stated: “
These projects subscribe among the priorities mentioned in
the Endorsement Partnership at EU and in the Pre-endorsement Strategy concluded between
Romania and the European Union, especially concerning the contraction of a new efficient
transport infrastructure, which should respect the national and international
environmental norms and provisions. In this sense, IEB plays a decisive part, by insuring
an adequate long-term financing program.”
Reporting Magda Olaru
