A Romanian-Bosnian joint venture will build the longest section of the A8 Unirii Highway, Ditrău – Grinţieş (38 km). Worth 6.14 billion lei, this is the largest motorway contract signed so far in Romania, according to CNIR.
“Today we signed the contract for the construction of a new lot of the mountain sector of the A8 (Union Highway)! The Ditrău-Grințieș lot (37.9 km), the longest of this highway, will be built by a Romanian-Bosnian association,” Transport Minister Sorin Grindeanu announced on Thursday.
The contract for the design and execution of the Ditrău-Grințies motorway lot is the first signed by CNIR since the establishment of this new company. The new motorway lot (financed by the 2021-2027 Transport Program), worth 6.14 billion lei (excluding VAT), must be completed in 54 months (14 months allocated for the design and 40 months allocated for the execution phase of the works).
The route will include 63 passages and 19 tunnels, structures whose total length represents 57% of the length of the entire lot.
On March 10, CNIR designated the bid of the SA&PE CONSTRUCT (LIDER)-TEHNOSTRADE S.R.L.-EURO ASFALT D.O.O-SPEDITION UMB association as the winner, for the design and execution contract for lot 2A Ditrău – Grinţieş (38 km), the longest lot of the A8 Unirii Highway. The financial bid of the association, led by companies controlled by Dorinel Umbrărescu, has a value of 6.14 billion lei (approximately 1.2 billion euros) excluding VAT, according to CNIR. Only this association submitted a bid for the longest lot of the A8.
Once signed, it becomes the most expensive contract for a motorway lot in Romania. The previous record was set by Section 3 of the A1 Sibiu – Pitești (37.4 km), where the signed contract is worth 5.3 billion lei, or about 1.06 billion euros.
SA&PE Construct, Tehnostrade and Spedition UMB are all part of the UMB group of businessman Dorinel Umbrărescu, one of the most active road builders in the country.
The Ditrău – Grinţieş lot is 37.9 kilometers long and passes through Harghita and Neamț counties. The association formed by builders from Romania and Bosnia and Herzegovina has a deadline of 54 months, of which 14 months for the design phase and 40 months for the execution period. Therefore, if the start order is given in the first half of this year, the design should be ready in the summer-autumn of 2026, and the actual construction of the highway should be completed by the end of 2029 or the beginning of 2030.