This article is intended to be the first of many to provide an overview of a topic that is very popular with foreign investors: public procurement. We will start our procurement tour entitled “Romania: special public procurement” with the railway network.
The strong need for infrastructure and construction works of all kinds and types is pushing Italian and foreign entrepreneurs in general to invest in Romania; in addition to the resources that the European Union is continuing to allocate for the country’s development: for the new 2014-2020 programming period there are 38.9 billion euros available (of which 21.4 structural and 17.5 allocated to agriculture). But the Bucharest government has also done its part, putting in place a transport master plan worth 43 billion euros with 1,300 kilometers of highways, 1,825 of expressways and 3079 of trans-regional roads to be built in the coming years.
Astaldi (source “il sole 24 ore”) has been awarded, in a grouping of companies, two new contracts in Romania, both related to the rehabilitation of the Frontier-Curtici-Simeria railway line, part of the Pan-European Corridor IV. The total value of the works to be carried out is approximately 776 million euros, 42 percent of which will go to Astaldi.
The contracts relate to Lots 2A and 2B of the new railway corridor for the rehabilitation and consolidation of 80 kilometers of railway and 11 stations, the Ertms signaling and telocommunication system, as well as the construction of 30 bridges and a tunnel. The contiguity of the two lots will allow considerable operational synergies and economies of scale such as to ensure the best execution of the works. The duration of the works is expected to be 36 months, with start-up by the first half of this year.
The Client is the National Railway Company of Romania. The works are 75% financed by European Funds (Poim) and the remaining 25% by the State Budget. Astaldi will carry out the works as leader of a grouping of companies formed with FCC Costruccion SA (42% share), SC Thales Systems Romania S.r.l. (15% share), Salcef Costruzioni Edili e Ferroviarie S.p.A. (1% share).
The Romanian Ministry of Transport is managing about 400 projects to modernize and renovate rail infrastructure with a total value of more than 4.5 billion euros. At least 3 tenders are scheduled this year to award modernization works on the railway network: the section covers Brasov-Apata-Cata-Sighisoara for about 130 km in length.
For any information please write to our specific e-mail address: tender@dvs-europe.eu
