PM Victor Ponta wants to promote a Master Plan for Transports to meet consensus coming from political parties for at least ten years, similar to the one agreed upon on defence. PM Ponta said on Tuesday the Transportation Ministry experts should get on to work. The document should be presented to the President before going public.
The Premier was present on Tuesday at the Transportation Ministry for the presentation carried out by the Transport Minister Ioan Rus on the development of the road infrastructure during 2015-2016.
PM Ponta said he is able to get a PhD on the building of the Comarnic-Brasov highway section. He added that by February 15 the contract for this section should be decided upon or should be terminated.
According to Transportation Minister Ioan Rus, the highway network in Romania has 700 km and is to be extended by 50 km this year and by another 200 km in 2016. Rus said the financing needs amount to EUR 30 billion until 2020.
The ministry’s plan reads that Romania is expected to build 725 km of highways and 1,809 km of expressways by 2030, estimated costs amounting to EUR 28.6 billion. Rus said financial sources might be supplied by the European funds (EUR 6 bn – including national co-financing), excise on diesel fuel, vignette, land leasing and public-private partnerships (EUR 4 billion) as well as loans coming from the EIB, EBRD and World Bank.