Troublesome Consensus For Brasov Airport

• Mayor George Scripcaru supports AIBG, but only if an aerodrome complements it

Ovidiu Vrânceanu,BRAŞOV

The Brasov Local Council meeting held on Monday evening turned into a public debate on the need to have an international airport in the city. Besides representatives of all political parties and many journalists, the meeting was attended by various persons expressing their opinion through banners, flyers and inscribed t-shirts. The discussion about the airport started when Alderman Adrian Atomei (PNL) asked the chairperson to remove from the agenda the potential trilateral association of Brasov City, IAR Ghimbav and the Romanian Air Club in order to establish a the company S.C. Aerodromul "Iosif Silimon" S.R.L. because he thought the project was intended to hinder the construction of the Brasov International Airport.

After it was explained that only the City Hall could withdraw a draft resolution from the agenda, Mayor George Scripcaru shared his view on the construction of the Brasov International Airport. "I don"t think it makes sense to say that I, the City Hall or the Brasov Local Council might not be supporting this project, especially considering that we are parties to this association. Personally, I am fully supporting this project. In the last four days, I met with politicians from all parties and I believe that this project will be able to start as soon as the procedural aspects and the documentation are completed. The construction of the aerodrome complements the main project. Even Intelcan, with whom I have met, agreed with the aerodrome idea as they saw it as a first step to having an international airport. They were even surprised to discover that the two projects can complement each other," said Mayor George Scripcaru.

The mayor pointed out that the construction of the aerodrome was all the more important as Brasov City and five other nearby communities would host of the European Youth Olympic Festival (EYOF) in 2013. "In addition to the athletic infrastructure, we also need to have proper transportation infrastructure in place," Scripcaru added. PSD Aldermen Mihai David and Nicolae Tucunel also said they supported the project. The former mentioned that talks about building an airport had been going on intermittently for 20 years. "The wording is quite clear: the Brasov - Ghimbav International Airport is one thing and the aerodrome is another. I think the difference is quite clear," Tucunel said.

Alderman Lucian Ionescu (PD-L) discussed the matter of financing the project. He said that the information he had obtained in his former office as Brasov County Alderman, the entire loan taken by Intelcan would be guaranteed by the Brasov County Council. "If traffic does not reach 1 million passengers and several hundreds of tonnes of freight in three years, the County Council is going to pay the bank instalments. We need to make sure this is clarified," Ionescu added. Replying on this topic, Mayor Scripcaru added that all facts about the project should be known, especially considering that some information was confidential.

"Being a project of the local administration, which means public money and assets, I think that all facts about this contract should be known. We need to know how the Municipality is going to be involved. As for the Parliament"s endorsement of Government Ordinance 41 on the transfer of the 200 hectares to the airport project, I can assure you that there will not be any problems after the documentation is finished. There are, however, major problems about the city planning documentation of the future airport. According to the existing document, IAR Ghimbav should be entirely demolished. We need to correlate all existing data and put the full set of correct facts about the project in the documentation we send to Bucharest," Mayor Scripcaru added.

Eventually, the motion regarding the construction of the "Iosif Silimon" Aerodrome carried with only three abstentions of the PNL aldermen.

• "The mayor"s attitude has changed completely"

Aristotel Cancescu, Chairman of the Brasov County Council, commented that "the mayor"s attitude has changed completely probably because some sociologists around him told him that his image would suffer if he continued to oppose this project." He expressed confidence that "now, when the ordinance about the transfer of the 200 hectares to the County Council is going to be voted on, it will carry without any problems."

"Mayor Scripcaru wants to have first a small airport, suitable only for small planes and helicopters. It is better to have the Brasov-Ghimbav International Airport ready first. The mayor is surrounded by businesspeople who have helicopters and small planes. He can have his small airport after the international airport is ready," he said.

• "I"m sorry I didn"t ask for more"

Cancescu stressed that both the Cluj Napoca Airport and the Timisoara Airport were larger than the projected airport in Brasov. "I"m sorry I didn"t ask for more land for the airport. The one in Timisoara has 320 hectares, while the one in Cluj has 280 hectares. We would have 200 hectares, but approximately the same traffic as either of the other two. Valeriu Tabara, who is opposing the project, did not know what to believe when he called Timisoara and found the surface of the airport. Minister Berceanu is only damaging Romanian aviation. In 1994, when we were collecting signatures to bring Bell Helicopters to IAR Ghimbav, he opposed it. If that deal had gone through, we would be just fine now, but he refused. While I was building planes, Berceanu was playing with scale models. Last week, he said it was not necessary to have an airport in Brasov. So did Senator Marian Rasaliu and other Democrat-Liberals. This week, I see that it is not necessary to have an airport in Brasov, but two," Cancescu added.