Infrastructure consultancy company Hill International's deputy chairman, Panayotis Methenitis, in charge of development in Eastern Europe and the Balkans, has stated that the value of projects currently being carried out in Romania equals all the projects operated in Bulgaria, Turkey, Croatia, Serbia and Lithuania, put together.
In 2006, the US group Hill International generated a turnover worth around 65.2m euros on the European market, while the total value of projects developed in Romania was around 19.4m euros. In comparison, contracts handled in Bulgaria, Turkey, Croatia, Serbia and Lithuania amounted to almost 19.8m euros.
"Romania is a very important country, not only for our company, but for other similar companies, particularly given its geographical location. An advantage that puts Romania ahead of its rivals is its ability to absorb European funds better than other states such as Bulgaria," says Methenitis.
Major developers of projects are increasingly resorting to the services offered by infrastructure consultancy companies, in an attempt to slash execution costs and secure a competitive final product. The market covered by these services has a huge potential, from commercial buildings, to logistic centres, to residential complexes. The main customer and dominant financing source for this market is the state, which develops projects with its own funds or manages European funds for both national and local works.
"In the next five years, the market will be under constant development, with good dynamics on the private market, as well, which will have an increasingly stronger contribution to our turnover," stated Methenitis.
Amid a projected 4m-euro turnover for 2007, up 25% on 2006, Hill's representatives have highlighted the growing importance of the private market in the development of their domestic business.
In Hill's portfolio, building projects account for 23% of the derived turnover, a percentage expected to increase over the following years. Environmental infrastructure projects account for 43%, with road infrastructure projects accounting for 34%.
Hill entered the Romanian market in 1997 and contracted its first project in 1999. The Romanian unit is the main office for the Central and Eastern Europe arm of the US group, which covers states such as Bulgaria, Ukraine and Serbia.
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