Bucharest municipality to refurbish area above Universitate underground car park with EUR 0.5 mln

The area above the upcoming underground car park in Universitatii Square in Bucharest will be refurbished after the car park will be finalized and should be ready in June 2012. The Bucharest City hall will pay EUR 500,000 for the refurbishment of the area. The four statues representing Mihai Viteazul, Ion Heliade Rădulescu, Spiru Haret and Gheorghe Lazăr, that have been temporarily moved during works, will be brought back and will become center pieces of the area. Works on the car park that is being built in Universitatii Square will be finalized in March 2012.The car park has a capacity of 420 cars and 21 bikes, on three levels underground. This is a public – private partnership and the cost of parking there will be of EUR 0.38 per hour. The winners of the concession contract - Terratest Cimentaciones S.L., Alius Inver siones S.L and Simex S.A- will invest EUR 13 million in the project. Money for the refurbishment of the area above the ground will come from the Municipality. Works on this car park have unearthed human remains dating back 400 years ago. According to archeologists, 40 human skeletons have been discovered in what seems to have been a cemetery located near two churches from the 16th and 17th centuries. The Bucharest Archeology Institute, the National Museum of History and the Rainer Institute of the Romanian Academia have teamed up to analyze the human bones. This was the second archeological discovery since works started on the underground car park downtown Bucharest. The ruins of a 300-year old academia have been recently unearthed, along with water pipes from that period, but the Bucharest City Hall has decided to continue works on the car park and said the ruins would be incorporated into the car park project. editor@romania-insider.com