SINCE THE ONSET OF THE ECONOMIC CRISIS, Galaţi missed out on investments of approximately 2 billion Euros

The lack of interest of the local authorities, according to the statements of some investors, or the reduction of the funds available, according to others, have deprived the city of Galaţi of projects worth approximately 2 billion Euros. This is about a series of promises which concerned the construction of some factories, electric plants or malls, which the foreign investors abandoned shortly after announcing their plans to invest in the city located near the Danube. "Due to the lack of interest of our public officials, all the foreign investments in Galaţi have gone down the drain", said Marian Filimon, the president of the Professional association of Small and Medium Enterprises of Galaţi.

One billion Euros in one shot!

The biggest investment which was going to be made in the SE Region was the Coal-based thermoelectric plant, with an installed power of 800 MW, in the Galaţi Free Zone. The investment amounted to one billion Euros and was made by Enel in cooperation with Global International 2000 of Bucharest. The project which was announced in 2007 has not gone ahead for now. It is also one of the most controversial of those investments, due to the large environmental issues it raises. Initially, the project was rejected by the Council of the Natural Park of Galaţi, which claimed that it did not meet the same environmental requirements as the thermoelectric plant built by Enel in Italy.

Another investment in the free zone was abandoned this year as well, due to the problems arising from the economic crisis: Goldex Industry, which manufactures the "Hoyo" tractors in Râşnov, and which wanted to invest 60 million Euros and create 220 new jobs in Galaţi. The core feature of the investment plan was a tractor assembly line.

Two plants for the production of electricity have abandoned Galaţi

Two other investments with a total value of 600 million Euros are the two plants for generating electricity which had been announced by Czech Energy Group and the by the Swedes of Usitall.

Two years after the Czechs signed an agreement with the Romanian state, they announced that they are abandoning the project after the pre-feasibility study revealed that the costs of the project were too high. The Swedes were a lot more open about their reasons for dropping the project. Mattias Philipsson, the CEO of Usitall, said that he plans to abandon the Romanian investments, not just those of Galaţi, due to the inability to reach an understanding with the authorities. "The reason why we decided to stop the discussion with the local authorities is their lack of interest. Even talking to them was difficult. I can't understand why they didn't want to do it", said Mattias Philipsson.

Another project which was abandoned, even though it had gone into the execution stage was the construction of a Euromall. The investment which was announced amounted to 50 million Euros and was going to generate 3,000 jobs. In spite of this, the investors have announced their drop of the project as soon as the economic crisis began.

The bridge over the Danube, an unfulfilled dream

A dream which at one time seemed like it would become a reality was the bridge over the Danube which was going to tie Galaţi and Brăila to Tulcea. In 2009, the Chinese were willing to invest 400 million dollars (in 2009, the exchange rate for the US dollar was 3.049 lei), but the project got stuck due to the lack of funds from the Romanian authorities which were supposed to allocate 300 million dollars to connect the bridge to the already existing highways. "Unfortunately, with the current structure of the national strategy, Galaţi is no longer an area of interest", said Mihai Capră, the prefect of the county of Galaţi in 2009.

Aside from that, we also have the real estate projects which were abandoned at various stages of completion. Tens of blocks which were going to become "sky scrapers" are now mere ruins, through which stray dogs roam. Corneliu Istrate, the manager of Vega 93, who has himself begun construction of a hotel and three blocks of flats, says that he can't finish his projects due to the lack of money.