CNAIR starts all the projects in PNRR, Constanţa Port - problems in accessing european funds

One warm, the other cold at the Ministry of Transport, as long as CNAIR managed to start all the projects financed from the National Recovery and Resilience Plan, but the Port of Constanţa has problems accessing European money, according to the statements of Minister Sorin Grindeanu.

At the end of last week, the Minister of Transport announced that, with the signing of the contract for the design and execution of the last section of the A8, i.e. for the section Târgu Mureş - Miercurea Nirajului, CNAIR concluded all the contracts regarding the projects financed by the PNRR and that a total value of 27 .7 billion lei, excluding VAT.

In the press conference that followed the signing of the contract, Sorin Grindeanu stated: "Today we conclude the series of road infrastructure objectives financed by the National Recovery and Resilience Plan. The contract for the design and execution of the Târgu Mureş - Miercurea Nirajului highway section, part of the A8 (Autostrada Unirii) is the last in this series. Currently, all 18 road projects financed by PNRR (412.46 kilometers) are signed, with a total value of 27.7 billion lei (without VAT). It is about the Nădăşelu-Mihăiesti, Mihăiesti-Zimbor and Zimbor-Poarta Sălajulu sections of the Transilvania Highway, about all 13 lots between Ploieşti and Paşcani on the A7 (Moldovei Highway), about sections E and D of the A1 (Lugoj-Deva Highway) and the Târgu Mureş-Miercurea Nirajului and Leghin-Târgu Neamţ sections of the A8".

For the contract signed on Friday, the Turkish builder has 2.46 billion lei (without VAT) and 30 months (6 months design, 24 months execution) to complete the works. Along the route of this section (24.4 kilometers) including 36 bridges, passages and viaducts are to be built.

Also on Friday, the Ministry of Transport launched the public procurement procedure regarding the contract for the execution of the Arad - Oradea Expressway, which will have a length of 120.47 kilometers. The Arad - Oradea Express Road is part of the road corridor that will ensure the connection between the Baltic Sea-Black Sea and the Aegean Sea, a project of the European Union, established by the Three Seas Initiative.

Minister Sorin Grindeanu said: "I really want this corridor on the North-South axis that connects the port of Gdansk to the port of Thessaloniki to pass through our country. We are running against the clock, we are taking an important step and I hope that this spring, in May-June, we will also launch Timişoara-Moraviţa to close everything related to the Romanian side".

The contracts for the construction of the three lots of this high-speed road have a total estimated value of 8.5 billion lei (without VAT). Construction is funded through the Transport Program 2021-2027, and each contract must be completed within a maximum of 24 months. The contract also provides for the construction of 12 road junctions, four maintenance and coordination centers and 86 bridges and passages.

• Constanţa Port, slacker for infrastructure projects

Regarding the Port of Constanţa, Minister Sorin Grindeanu is dissatisfied with the way the management teams of the last 30 years have managed this objective of national strategic importance. Asked during the press conference about how the new management team of the National Company for the Administration of the Maritime Ports of Constanţa will be selected, the Minister of Transport replied: "I am primarily interested in starting the process for selecting the members of the Board of Directors on GEO 109/2011 . As you know, I do not much agree with the present form of the law; it is very restrictive. You can go as an economist or a lawyer as a member of the Board of Directors anywhere. That is, if I bring a professor of international law, he cannot be a member of the CA selected according to the law in Constanţa Port, which does not seem normal to me. Also, a super-economist cannot be a member of the CA in Constanţa Port; it has to be only those in the naval field, and it doesn't seem fair and realistic to me. I believe that a jurist, an experienced economist can be members of the CA. Wherever it is possible, only in the Port of Constanţa it is not possible because there some people thought of doing something restrictive to put only those who have graduated something in the naval field. And I saw what they did, that 30 years was chaos. I saw how in 30 years there were companies - and please check - that did not pay their water, electricity, royalties for 30 years. There are dozens of lawsuits open right now to recover these damages. That is why I tried to change the law regarding the selection of CA members. I have nothing to reproach the former director who entered into this battle with these companies, opened all these lawsuits and recovered a large part of the sums owed to the National Company for the Administration of Maritime Ports Constanţa". His lordship stated that for the future management team of the Port of Constanţa, one of the priorities must be to access European funds.

Sorin Grindeanu stated: "I am interested in the fact that in the next period all those projects financed by European money - and this is a component that did not go well in the Port of Constanţa, regardless of what happened in the past - go at a different speed. For example, the Government today approved the technical-economic indicators for investment dredging in the Port of Constanţa, a project funded by European funds. This component in Constanţa Port did not work properly in the past years. They were unable to access the European money that they could access. This period must end and it is one of the priorities that the leadership must have, whoever it is."

According to the substantiation note of the government decision, the total value of the investment dredging project that will be carried out in the ports of Constanţa, Midia and Mangalia is almost 1.06 billion lei, the duration of the investment being 39 months, of which the duration of execution is 30 months, from the date of issuing the order to start the works.

The financing of the investment objective is carried out from non-refundable external funds through the Transport Program (PT) 2021-2027 and from the state budget, through the budget of the Ministry of Transport and Infrastructure, within the limits of the amounts approved annually for this purpose, according to the public investment programs approved according to the law .