The constructor of Lot 3 of the A1 Sibiu – Orastie motorway, a section closed to traffic following the crumbling of a part of the motorway shortly after the inauguration and which was later rebuilt from scratch, would have to pay back to the National Road and Highways Company (CNAIR) more than RON 83 million, as decided by the Court of Arbitration in Paris in 2017.
“On October 16, 2018, the Bucharest Court of Appeals upheld the action brought by CNAIR lawyers, compelling the contractor Salini Impregilo S.p.A to refund the company with the amount of RON 83,158,980.82,” CNAIR has announced, quoted by hotnews.ro.
“We would like to point out that on March 23, 2017, the International Court of Arbitration – ICC Paris issued a partial arbitration order that obliged CNAIR to pay the amount of RON 83,158,980.82 to the entrepreneur Salini Impregilo S.p.A. who built the 3rd lot of the Orăştie-Sibiu motorway (km 43 + 855 – km 65 + 965)”, CNAIR also informs.
Lot 3 of the A1 Orăştie -Sibiu motorway was inaugurated in 2014, two days before the second round of the presidential election. The opening of the traffic was attended by the then Transport Minister Ioan Rus and Prime Minister Victor Ponta, candidate for the presidential election.
The problems on the newly inaugurated section appeared two weeks after the opening of the traffic – cracks and crumbling, and in 2015 the situation worsened to the extent that the authorities closed the traffic in September that year.
Subsequently, in January 2016, the contract with Salini Impregilo was terminated and the CNAIR retained about RON 60 million as guarantee of good work.
The authorities then had to demolish and reconstruct from scratch a 200-meter section on their own funds. The section of the highway was reopened for traffic in October 2016.
file photo: Construim Romania