Opening of Bucharest-Ploiesti highway postponed once again

Newsroom 28/06/2012 | 14:50

The Bucharest–Ploiesti highway (part of A3) will not be opened for traffic this Saturday, a deadline previously agreed upon after several other delays, due to flaws in construction which threaten traffic safety, announced the minister of transports Ovidiu Silaghi, according to Mediafax. The 62km highway segment which connects Bucharest and Ploiesti could be opened for traffic on August 1 after construction problems will be remedied, but speed restrictions will be imposed, said Mihail Basulescu, general director of the National Company for Highways and National Roads (CNADNR).

Ministry representatives said the June 30 deadline was set by the constructors and was not politically assumed. The initial deadline for completing the Bucharest–Ploiesti highway was in 2010. For delays in delivering the project, the constructors must pay penalties worth RON 75,000 (approximately EUR 17.000) per day. On June 22, penalties for the delay totaled more than RON 14 million (approximately EUR 3.2 million).

The constructors of the Ploiesti–Bucharest highway are the Italian consortium Impressa Pizzarotti/Tirrena Scavi and an association made up of local companies Spedition UMB, Pa&Co International, Euroconstruct ’98 and Com-Axa.

The project cost some EUR 450 million.

The Bucharest–Ploiesti segment (62 km) is part of the future A3 highway (565 km) which should connect Bucharest with Bors, in western Romania, close to the Hungarian border.