Bucharest mayor: Korean investor for the suspended highway

Bucharest City Hall has found an investor for the construction of the suspended highway, a South Korean company, told HotNews Mayor Sorin Oprescu, in an interview published on Thursday. The mayor says that the investment is estimated at about EUR 1,6 billion  and it will be carried out by the private company who will be established following an auction. According to Oprescu, Bucharesters will pay a fee amounting up to EUR 20 / year to use the suspended highway, and thus the investor will recover the investment.

“We found the investor for the suspended highway, a certain South Korean company. We’ll make it in public-private partnership. Of course, we will organize an auction, but we were glad that they were willing to do this and that they provided the funds. We will organize the auction as soon as Bucharest General Council approves the opportunity study. The Urban Zonal Plan is approved. Perhaps other companies will take part in the auction as well. The suspended highway is the fourth traffic ring and it will unify all three highways – A1, A2 and A3 – and national road DN1. The payback will be made through maintenance and when it will be put into service, the Bucharesters will pay a “buvinieta” which will cost up to EUR 20 per year, following the first calculations,” stated Oprescu.

In the 2008 electoral campaign, Sorin Oprescu, running for the City Hall, was promising the Bucharesters that he will complete in two years a suspended highway that will cross the Capital from North to South in order to protect the city from traffic jams. After being elected mayor, Oprescu moved the project of the suspended highway to the ground, on Buzesti Boulevard, where work was on progress for broadening the street up to Vasile Parvan. As the media and the voters were not satisfied with this version, after 4 years in office, Oprescu presented another project – the Capital’s median ring – a 13,5 km road, parallel to the railway ring, between Colentina and the Mill Lake. This project was approved by the General Council of Bucharest in November 2013 and costs not less than EUR 1,6 billion. Since it is a colossal amount of money for the Capital’s budget, Oprescu said he would complete it with Chinese investors. After November 2013 the project was drowned in silence.

During the same interview, Oprescu also stated that Bucharest City Hall will not build the express road towards the A1 highway at the ground, but it will build a 14 km tunnel between Ciurel Bridge and Bucharest-Pitesti highway. The mayor said that the tunnel will have a length between 7,8 and 14 km, and the costs will be slightly higher than the ground version which involves a lot of money for expropriations. Oprescu promised that Ciurel Bridge will be ready by the end of 2015.