Romania auctions off another segment of Transylvania freeway, estimated price tag: EUR 530 mln

Romania’s national company for highways and roads CNADNR recently published an auction announcement for a 37.2-kilometer segment of the Transylvania freeway. The segment should connect the small town of Ogra, in Mures county, to Campia Turzii, which is in Cluj county. The estimated cost for this segment is between EUR 440 million and EUR 530 mln, VAT included. This includes the design, which should take 4 months, the execution, which should take no more than a year. The auction should take place on August 11. At the maximum estimated price, the state should pay EUR 14.3 million per kilometer. The Transilvania freeway, which should connect the city of Brasov, in the center of Romania, to the Western border crossing of Bors, via Cluj-Napoca, is the most expensive freeway ever built in Romania. American group Bechtel which got the contract to build this highway in 2003, cashed more than EUR 1.2 billion but only finished a 52 kilometer segment between Campia Turzii and Cluj-Napoca, before the Romanian Government canceled the contract in 2013. Another 64.5 kilometer segment between Suplacu de Barcau and Bors was half done by Bechtel. CNADNR started an auction for the remaining works on this segment at the end of May, with an estimated cost of up to EUR 333 million, VAT included. The other segments of the freeway haven’t been auctioned yet. Andrei Chirileasa, andrei@romania-insider.com