TranMin Rus: Romania to get 7.2 bl euros from EU for road and rail infrastructure by 2020

Romania is going to receive 7.2 billion euros from the European Union (EU) by 2020 for its road and rail infrastructure, Transport Minister Ioan Rus told the Realitatea TV private television broadcaster on Thursday evening.

He said that Romania is going to receive 1.2 billion euros from the EU by 2015 for its road and railway infrastructure, to which 300 million euros will add in co-financing from the state budget.

The overall amount spent on motorways from the state budget and from European funds in 2014 is 600 million euros, according to the Minister.

'It all depends on our ability to engage works and submit the invoices to the Union (to be reimbursed by the European Commission — editor's note),' said Ioan Rus.

According to the Minister of Transport, the modernisation works at the railway linking the western Arad city to Brasov (central Romania) and the mountain resort of Predeal (central Romania) should be completed somewhere in 2016-2017, thus allowing high-speed traffic from Western Romania to the Black Sea port of Constanta.

As regards the motorway system, the authorities expect the works on the motorway that will link the western and central Romania to Europe to be completed by the end of 2015, while the situation still remains uncertain in northern and eastern Transylvania.

Construction works at the Targu Mures-Oradea motorway are also expected to be completed by the end of 2016 and those on the Bucharest-Bors motorway are expected to be completed by 2018, the Minister of Transport said.

'I will make sure that we don't build motorways that lead to nowhere,' the Minister stressed. AGERPRES