Italian Co Building Bucharest-Brasov Hwy Should Use Local Reinforced Concrete – President

The president asked on the construction site of the first highway segment if the reinforced concrete is made in Romania or if it is imported.

The representative of Italian company Pizzarotti said the reinforced concrete is brought from Italy, not because it is cheaper, but because the project requires it to be so.

The answer displeased Basescu.

“Still, the work is funded by the budget and during the crisis you could take into consideration the Romanian market too. It is a suggestion: we are shutting down the local steel industry over lack of demand,” Basescu told the Italian constructors.

Basescu added the deadline for the completion of the first 7 kilometers of the highway is not certain, as the expropriation process of the lands is blocked due to the prices the landowners ask for them, which equal those prior to the crisis.

“The legal basis must be created, as we will never have highways in this way. The public interest must take precedence over the group’s interest. There are two things stopping our works: money and lands. We might have money… It is hard for me to understand how everyone is complaining about the drop in land prices except for the one for the lands where the highway is built,” Basescu said.

Italian group Pizzarotti & C.S.p.A. Tirrena Scavi S.p.A. won the auction to build the segment linking Bucharest to Moara Vlasiei.

Transport minister Radu Berceanu said early May this segment will be open as of July 2010 and will link the ringroads of Bucharest and Ploiesti.