30 Mio EUR Bill For Halting Works On Basarab Bridge

• Losses to companies exceed 140 million EUR

The Bucharest City Hall will have to pay some 30 million EUR in penalties to Astaldi (Italy) & FCC (Spain), the contractor for the Basarab Bridge construction project, according to Deputy Mayor of Bucharest Mircea Raicu. According to him, the City has negotiated a reduction of the penalties to 30 million EUR from the initial 80 million EUR claimed by the contractor as construction works were suspended since the summer of 2008. In the meantime, Bucharest aldermen have been postponing the authorization to expropriate the last six buildings on a list of 104.

"The losses caused by the stopping the project are greater than the cost of finishing the project. The delays have caused losses estimated at nearly 140 million EUR. The loss of corporate and individual time has been estimated at 31 million EUR per year, while the costs generated by idle construction vehicles amount to 6 million EUR per year. The maintenance of nearby roads, which are currently used excessively because of rerouted traffic costs over 1.5 million EUR per year, while the losses resulting from the business lost by nearby companies amount to over 100 million EUR per year," said Deputy Mayor Raicu.

He repeated the need to resume construction works as soon as possible. As the bridge has been declared a public utility by law, nothing prevents the aldermen from authorizing the expropriation of the remaining six properties today. If so, works could be resumed in a month. According to Raicu, the 11 PSD aldermen are the only ones still opposing the expropriation. The construction of the Basarab Bridge costs 114 million EUR, of which 60 million EUR has been paid already. To this adds the cost of the expropriation, which will be covered by the local budget.