Romania To Get Loan With State Guarantee For Transylvania Highway Construction

Dascalu said the value of the loan has not yet been decided.

"The loan could be contracted by the Finance Ministry, the country's public roads authority CNADNR or by U.S. builder Bechtel. We haven't decided yet but we must see that the loan won't trigger financial bottlenecks," Dascalu told a news conference Thursday.

He also pointed out that Bechtel, the company building the Transylvania highway, must come up with a schedule of works for 2010, which must also include the sums of money needed for construction works.

According to Dascalu, Romania will propose to the European Commission that Transylvania Highway be included in the trans-European transport network (TEN-T), to further obtain European funds and cover construction costs. The European Commission has launched this year a project to revise the TEN-T strategy, which brought together 15 states, including Romania.

Transport Ministry officials attended Wednesday and Thursday the first out of four scheduled meetings targeting to implement the SEETAC (South-East European Transport Axis Cooperation) project within South East Europe Transnational Cooperation Program.

Carlo Fortuna, a director within SEETAC, said the countries that have joined the program will hold talks with the EC on their domestic projects.

Cartel Alfa unionists in Cluj, northwestern Romania, have threatened with protests after Bechtel sent a notification Wednesday that all 1,933 Bechtel employees will be laid off.

Union leader Grigore Pop said Wednesday Cartel Alfa unionists were notified by Bechtel officials on the start of massive layoffs triggered by a EUR160 million debt the roads authority had to pay Bechtel.

Pop said all 1,933 Bechtel employees will be laid off as of March 5 and will receive a 20-day notice, so that layoffs can become effective at the beginning of April.

Bechtel finalized the first 42 kilometers of the Transylvania highway, namely the Turda-Gilau sector, until December 1, 2009.

Prime Minister Emil Boc said recently the government will propose Bechtel that certain sectors of the Transylvania highway be completed based on a public-private partnership, a system the Executive plans to use for all major infrastructure projects.

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