Cluj-Napoca prepares big infrastructure projects, buys electric buses

The local authorities in Cluj-Napoca will launch a public tender for the pre-feasibility study for its future subway. The document will determine the cost of this major project and the route. As this project is over EUR 75 million, it needs a pre-feasibility study followed by a feasibility study. The Cluj-Napoca City hall will start by commissioning a pre-feasibility study, local Mediafax reported. The city’s new subway will be different than the one Bucharest currently has as the trains will be powered by electric batteries, according to Cluj-Napoca mayor Emil Boc. This technology will help the authorities save costs, as the subway tunnels will be narrower than current subway tunnels, Boc added. The Cluj-Napoca City hall also signed on Thursday, November 1, the contract for the feasibility study for its future metropolitan ring road. This project, which is 32 kilometers long and has an estimated cost of RON 150 million (EUR 32 million), should help the city reduce its traffic problems generated by vehicles transiting the city. The contract for the feasibility study, which was awarded to an association of Romanian and foreign companies, is worth RON 17.1 million (EUR 3.67 mln) without VAT. The companies will have to come up with at least three alternative routes. The construction of this new ring road will be financed with EU funds and should be completed in 2023, according to mayor Emil Boc. Cluj-Napoca also announced it would buy 25 electric buses that charge on route, using the trolleybus lines, according to Mediafax. The cost for this acquisition is RON 115.7 million (EUR 24.8 mln), with 80% of the funds coming from the Environment Fund Authority. Cluj-Napoca currently has 11 electric buses bought with Swiss funds and plans to buy 30 more with EU funds. Romanian city gets its first electric buses editor@romania-insider.com (photo source: Facebook / Emil Boc)