Having looked at Targu Mures, Brasov and Cluj, the representatives of Bechtel, the U.S.-based company that will build the most important infrastructure objective in Europe, have finally selected the city of Cluj.
Bechtel's headquarters will be located in Cluj-Napoca. "We chose Cluj because it is the region's main city and it was only natural to choose it," Walker Kimball, head of Bechtel Romania's Cluj office said.
The works on the Brasov-Bors motorway are due to begin on July 4, and the starting point in the Cluj County towards Bihor will be chosen from two locations: Campia Turzii and Gilau, as announced by Bechtel Romania's American representatives at the end of last week.
Bechtel will soon get the first $33m for the Brasov-Bors motorway, as Romanian Finance Minister Mihai Tanasescu has signed the guarantee letter for this amount. The guarantee letter was signed with Raiffeisen Bank.
The motorway section crossing the Cluj County will be approximately 52km long.
"The motorway will be made of bitumen and we will build the bitumen stations ourselves using Romanian raw material and workforce. We have not decided on a raw material supplier yet, but we are considering all the existing resources and working facilities," said Walker Kimball, who added all quality standards would be observed as required by the Romanian legislation.
According to Kimball, the project has been divided into eight sections, with works beginning on two of them (one in Cluj and one in Bihor) this year.
"The construction of the motorway will be completed in 2012, and the first two sections will be completed in 2008 as planned. We will work with Romanian contractors and labour. The names of these companies will be released before the works begin," Bechtel representative Michael Mix said. He added the companies would be selected based on their capabilities, size and quality standards.
The motorway will be built together with Turkish NK Company, a Bechtel partner for over 20 years.
"The Brasov-Bors motorway is the biggest infrastructure project in Europe and one of the biggest worldwide. It will be 415km long and cost 2.2bn euros. Work safety will be paramount to Bechtel. The principle we'll use when hiring people will be 'Zero accidents'," Michael Mix said.
He added the cost per kilometre of motorway would range between 3.5-4.5 million euros depending on the terrain structure and hardness.
Bechtel Romania's PR manager Howard Menaker said at the end of the discussion with the press that he was impressed with the political support given to the building of the motorway.
He added the motorway would be a major benefit for Romania in view of its EU accession.
The project has met with criticism from the EU, which provides funding to the EU Corridor IV going through southern Transilvania and taking the Timisoara - Deva - Sibiu route. The EU officials were displeased with Bechtel being awarded the contract without a prior tender. transilvania@zf.ro
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