This Saturday in Bailesti Transport minister Radu Berceanu declared that the ministry cannot invest motorway construction in 2010 because of the limits imposed by the IMF on the budget deficit.
Berceanu also noted that projects based on non-reimbursable European funding will be this year’s focus, with motorway investments relegated to the third tier on the Transport Ministry priority scale.
"We have no situation as regards Autostrada Transilvania. We do however have a situation with the state budget. That is, we have money; my first priority is to use this money for works financed with non-reimbursable European funds, to make sure we contribute our part to works financed by the EU with important amounts. My second priority is to provide funding to works such as the Craiova – Calafat road section, funded by several international institutions under very advantageous conditions. Works that are entirely financed from the state budget only come in third, provided there’s anything left after meeting the first two priority goals. There will be nothing left this year. The money is not even enough for the second priority, as I said last January immediately after I took over", minister Radu Berceanu replied to the journalists asking him about Autostrada Transilvania works.
The minister added that he had had been in talks with Bechtel representatives and that the State could have invested money, because the ministry did not have any other ongoing projects.
"I had a talk with Bechtel reps and I told them they were lucky. Last year works were underway, so we could provide financing because there were no European project prepared – I found no European project prepared. This is why last year we had the means to finance Bechtel, they did their works, with obvious results. This year we technically could have built even 102 kilometers of motorway, even 150, because there were no ongoing mature European projects. From here downwards, we could have built 50 km or zero km. This is a particularly unpleasant situation. I am combing through all manner of possible solutions, but to no avail, because our issue is not with available money. We have the money, almost 2 billion Euro from the European Investment Bank, but we can only spend it within the limits of the 5.9% budget deficit set with the IMF for this year. And this budget deficit cannot take more money than already established – it’s like being a diabetic and having cookies on the table and candy in the fridge that he can’t eat” Berceanu added.
This Saturday the Transport minister was in Bailesti attending a aviation event organized by the Bailesti Mayoralty as part of the festivities dedicated to the Days of Bailesti Municipality.

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