Tab Construct: "Next week we will begin cleanup at Hidromecanica"

• "Cora România" will build a retail center on the plot of land of the former plant

Adrian Vasile, the deputy CEO of Tab Construct, the company which completed the demolition of the buildings of Hidromecanica in the Civic Center of Braşov, said that in the beginning of next week his company will begin the cleanup in the area. "All we have left to do is cleanup the rubble", and he said that this will not take more than two or three weeks. At the moment, the area looks like it's been bombed, and the entire plot of land acquired by "Cora Romania", a company which will build a commercial center on that plot of land. "I understand that there will be a net, to prevent people from seeing how the area will develop and the works which will be taking place there", Adrian Vasile also said.

The deadline for completing the new commercial center is 2014. Two years ago, the General Department of Public Finance of Braşov sold the plot of land owned by the company in the Civic Center for 54 million lei. Last year, the representatives of the company have presented to the Mayoralty of Braşov the plans they had for the area of the Civic Center of Braşov. According to the mayor of Braşov, George Scripcaru, 70% of the plot of land of 4 hectares has been awarded to the supermarket, which is quite significant for that location. The company told the authorities that on the remaining portion of the land, it would like to build a 14-floor hotel, 4-floor retail galleries, and 3- and 4- storey residential and office buildings and 1,800 square meters of greenery. In the underground, there will be a 2-storey parking lot with 1624 parking spots.

• A history of over 130 years

The plant was created in 1880. The approximately 6,000 employees were working in the pig iron foundry and mechanical processing, and then in the steel foundry and forge. In the buildings of "Hidromecanica", the former "Fraţii Schiel" (Schiel Brothers) and the former company "The Lathe" ("Strungul") of the 50s were manufactured the first Romanian bus and the first Romanian lathe.

The name of the factory in the Civic Center was changed to "Hidromecanica" in 1961, when the plant specialized in hydraulic transmissions and turboblowers for the Diesel engines, and in 1978, in the "Tractorul" neighborhood, a new plant called "Hidromecanica 2" was built, which was making mostly hydro-mechanical transmissions.