Romanian road boost

Three contracts worth in the region of € 428 million for designing and building highways have been awarded in Romania, with Strabag and Astaldi winning the two largest.

Austrian-based Strabag's contract, worth € 166 million, comprises the construction of a total of 24 km of four-lane motorway with two hard shoulders. The construction time for lot 1 of the highway between Orăştie and Sibiu, including planning, is expected to be 22 months.

It follows the contract for the motorway section between Deva and Orăştie, which was awarded to Strabag in November 2010.

Italian group Astaldi's contract is worth € 147 million, and Astaldi is also part of a joint venture with two private Romanian companies which has won the third contract. Worth € 114 million, this contract is for the design and construction of lot 4 of the Orăştie to Sibiu highway. It involves 17 km of new highway and includes the West Sibiu junction. Work is planned to last approximately two years.

The Orăştie to Sibiu highway is part of the Pan-European Corridor 4 from the Romanian-Hungarian border at Nădlac via the capital of Bucharest to Constanta on the Black Sea.

The order is being 85% financed by European funds (European Funds POS-T) and by funds from the Romanian national budget.