Romania's Transport Ministry fails to use EUR 665 mln

Romania’s Transport Ministry was the institution with the highest unspent budget last year. About RON 3 billion (EUR 665 million) remained unused in 2015, said Dragos Paslaru, advisor to the prime minister. The general budget posted a deficit of RON 10 billion (EUR 2.2 billion) last year or 1.47% of the GDP. However, the state spent RON 15 billion (EUR 3.3 billion) in December. In the first 11 months of 2015, the budget surplus amounted to RON 5.2 billion (EUR 1.1 billion), reports local Mediafax. The Transport Ministry had an excess of RON 3 billion at the end of 2015. The amount represented a quarter of the ministry’s total budget. The Transport Minister Dan Costescu said that he was considering setting up an entity to monitor the equipment and specialists. This would help remove the constructors’ tendency to fool the state. The agency should be set up in March this year. Many constructors take part in public tenders, although their equipment is not available for the new project because it is already in use for another project. editor@romania-insider.com