Romania, U.S. Builder Bechtel To Sign Agreement For Another 20 Km Of Transylvania Hwy

Prime Minister Emil Boc on Monday met with the Romanian management of Bechtel, as the company wanted to know whether the Romanian authorities are willing to continue works on the highway this year.

Boc said at the end of talks that the government, via the Transport Ministry, and Bechtel will sign a protocol whereby construction works on the highway will continue, adding the Romanian authorities in April will pay a new installment of the country's debt to Bechtel for construction works finalized so far.

"The government shall spot financial sources from the perspective of budget revisions, so as to keep jobs and continue construction works," Boc said.

Sources close to the matter said a solution would be to finance works from commitment appropriations set in ratio with the volume of works and paid upon finalization.

The government estimates works on nearly 20 kilometers of the Transylvania Highway will be finalized this year and two thirds of workers will be kept.

The employment agency in Cluj county, northwestern Romania, received Monday from Bechtel a notification on the layoff of over 1,900 employees from the construction site of the Transylvania Highway, but the agency said legal procedures for layoffs have been breached.

Local employment agency manager Daniel Don said Monday he hopes the layoffs will not be followed through, since this might only be "pressure" applied by Bechtel to recover overdue debts from the Romanian Government for works on the Transylvania Highway.

Bechtel said early February that all the 1,933 employees of the company who work on the Transylvania Highway construction site would be laid off as Romania's public road authority CNADNR failed to pay its EUR214 million debt to the company.

The Romanian management of U.S. constructor Bechtel and local union representatives agreed recently that works would continue on the 10.2 km Campia-Turzii - Turda segment of the Transylvania Highway, bringing the overall distance to 50 kilometers to be completed, as long as financing is provided.

Bechtel finalized the first 42 kilometers of the Transylvania Highway, namely the Turda-Gilau sector, until December 1, 2009. Transylvania Highway links central Brasov to western Bors on the border with Hungary.

The construction of Transylvania Highway started in 2004 based on a EUR2.2 billion contract attributed to Bechtel. Works were halted mid-2005, when authorities started looking into contracts concluded under the previous government. The deadline for the completion of works was extended until 2013 from the initial 2012.

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