Contract for Timisoara-Arad highway could be scratched

Newsroom 21/06/2010 | 10:52

The minister of transportation, Radu Berceanu, has criticized representatives of the Poor construction company because only 7 percent of the Arad-Timisoara highway has been finished halfway into the time frame for completion. Some 400 days have passed already and the entire term for the project is 720 days. The ministry might ask for the contract to be torn up, writes Mediafax newswire.

Berceanu said there had been delays of nine months for the Arad bypass and six months of delays to the highway segment in Timis. The minister said the firms were trying to “buy time” and ask for changes in the technical aspects to pump up the prices.

“After they win, they start to stall so the price will increase. This happened here as well, more in Arad and to a lesser extent in Timis. They are asking for the alteration of the technical solutions that are stipulated in a very comprehensive document,” said Berceanu.

The minister also said there was an older problem that needed to be resolved. “In public auctions, firms offer very low prices to win. In the auctions, the candidates are companies that have built many highways, but in Spain and Portugal… In Romania, they have 13 people, no equipment, no employees, but they present the achievements they have there, 3,000 kilometers away. So in this way, companies with a history win the auctions, and then they outsource everything,” added Berceanu.

Otilia Haraga