THE EFFECTS OF PUBLIC SPENDING CUTS Mayoralty of Bucharest revises its investment priorities

The mayor of Bucharest, Sorin Oprescu, yesterday announced that he would review all the investment projects of the mayoralty and would reassess their priority, given the current economic context. All projects that are not urgently needed will be postponed, but this doesn"t mean works in Bucharest will stop, mayor Oprescu said.

He said: "Work will continue on the 12 sports fields that the Lakes and Parks Department has scheduled for this year. Six of them have already been completed. Work continues on the rehabilitation of passageways: work is currently under way on the Unirii passageway, and work on the Victoria and Lujerului passageways will begin next month".

The mayor also said that several streets and avenues (1 Mai, Timişoara, Aerogării and Rebreanu) will undergo a full makeover, and the mayoralty will issue calls for tenders for these projects in the near future.

Sorin Oprescu says: "Work on the major sites of the Capital - the Basarab Passageway and the Lia Manoliu stadium goes on. I"m happy to announce that we are on schedule with the renovation of 21 schools, as part of the EIB program. The contractors assured me that the schools will be ready by September 15".

Works will begin within the shortest delays on streets that lack current water and sewer systems, in the Apărătorii Patriei, Ion Creangă and Andronache areas.

Mayor Oprescu said that he suspended the works following the auction for the acquisition of 20 street clocks, as well as voided the auction concerning the designing and execution of an architectural monument in front of the Patriarchy.

Concerning the announcement made in Buşteni by officials of the Government and of the Union of County Councils concerning layoffs in the public administration, Sorin Oprescu commented: "There are no legal grounds to do so yet! And the City of Bucharest has a lot more than 1,070 persons, there are over 23,500 public sector employees, working in theatres, departments and business enterprises subordinated to the General Council. So I won"t wait for anyone to tell me who to lay off or which service to restructure".

The mayor of Bucharest will meet today with all the 48 heads of institutions, public enterprises and administrations, whom he wants to ask to find solutions for improving the operations of the public apparatus after the staff cuts.