Bucharest mayor provides updates on the status of major infrastructure projects

In a press conference on Wednesday, Bucharest mayor Gabriela Firea presented the status of several major infrastructure projects in the city, including the Ciurel bridge and the enlargement of Prelungirea Ghencea and Fabrica de Glucoza streets.

The mayor said that the Ciurel bridge-Virtutii Junction project, started ten years ago, should have been finished in 2014 and had an investment value of EUR 128 million.

“When we took over at the end of 2016, it was 13 percent ready. The project was completely stuck. I found financial issues as well as serious technical problems. The initial project had errors, it didn’t take into account a series of networks that had to be diverted in order for works to continue. Efforts were made to catch up on delays. For the Virtutii junction, the bridge is 90 percent ready, while the entire project is 70 percent done,” Firea said, adding that the works should be ready by the end of this year.

As for the A1 motorway breakthrough, Firea said that the initial project required an expropriation corridor that would have led to the demolition of 200 buildings, but that the route has been redrawn and only 20 buildings will have to be taken down.

Firea also said that the feasibility study for the enlargement of the Prelungirea Ghencea road would be handed in by the Sustainable Development Municipal Company on September 6. She added that the study costs EUR 320,000 – “infinitely less than what we would have paid for it on the free market.”

“The project involves enlarging and upgrading six kilometres of the Ghencea boulevard, starting with the final stop of the 41 tram and ending with the Ring Road. The new road will have two lanes on each direction, a tram line, bike routes, six-meter wide sidewalks, three-meter wide green spaces between the sidewalks and the road. All intersections with side roads will be refurbished, and intersections with Brasov, Valea Oltului and Raul Doamnei streets will have traffic lights. An intermodal node will also be created: the 41 tram, buses and mini-buses for pre-city lines and a park&ride parking with 30 spaces which we want to expand to a 500-space capacity. The project will be correlated with the new Domnesti traffic node, which is under CNAIR’s coordination, and which will create the link with the Bucharest Ring Road,” Firea explained.

She also spoke about the enlargement of the Fabrica de Glucoza street, claiming that she managed to unblock the project and that the contract was signed “after a period of resolving issues related to expropriations and challenges.” The total cost of the investment is EUR 12.3 million, and the deadline is 15 months from the date when works begin. She said that the initial project went through “substantial changes” due to the fact that there has been a lot of construction in the area.