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Romania Transylvania Highway Employees On Leave Until Jan 5

The 2,500 people engaged in construction works on Transylvania Highway, linking central Brasov to western Bors in Romania, will be sent on leave during the winter holidays, but the activity will be resumed on January 5, 2009 unless US constructor Bechtel is considering massive layoffs.
Romania Transylvania Highway Employees On Leave Until Jan 5
18 dec. 2008, 20:57, English

Nicolae Fenesan, regional secretary within the Familia General Union Federation, said Thursday that negotiations with Bechtel simply failed.

Last week, the highway’s project manager, Michael Mix, said construction works at Transylvania Highway will be significantly reduced, as Romania’s national roads and highways company, or CNADNR, owes EUR27 million to US constructor Bechtel.

According to Fenesan, the unionists urged CNADNR to issue a standpoint on the aforementioned debts, but the company failed to offer any explanations in this respect.

Mix added that the company cannot continue to build the highway, without being paid and with no large pieces of land secured.

Construction works on the highway started in 2004, based on a contract worth EUR2.2 billion attributed to US constructor Bechtel. Works halted mid-2005 when Romanian authorities started looking into contracts concluded under the previous government. The highway is due for completion in 2013.

By the first half of August, the company finalized five kilometers of highway from a 25-kilometer sector, linking Gilau and Campia Turzii.

Romanian Prime Minister Calin Tariceanu said mid November he is “bothered” by the slow pace of works on the Transylvania Highway, saying the Government is not willing to ensure funding “exceeding what Bechtel is able to carry out”.