Negotiations between the state and Voestalpine on the signing of a memorandum of understanding (MoU), which could pave the way for an around 5 billion-euro investment in a steel plant, are being delayed due to the demands of landowners whose plots are being targeted by the steel giant. Under the circumstances, the document is unlikely to be signed this month, according to Voestalpine officials, after being initially scheduled for the end of July. Yesterday, Prime Minister Calin Popescu Tariceanu met with representatives for the Austrian company at the Government headquarters, who decided that the MoU would be signed in the first week of October, according to sources that took part in the talks, quoted by Mediafax news agency. The Austrian group needs an around 600-hectare plot in the Agigea-Constanta area, close to the biggest Black Sea harbour, Constanta. "We have a few more topics to discuss before we can sign the MoU with Romania. So we are not confident we can sign the memorandum in September. The reason for this is that we still have some open questions related to the port operations and to the land in Constanta, which is difficult to secure. The advantage of the MoU with Bulgaria is that we feel secure about what will happen after our decision and about the location of the project, an industrial park. The solution chosen by the Bulgarian authorities is much better than the one in Romania, where we have to cope with more than 100 individual land owners, who all have their own price expectations," said Peter Schiefer, Voestalpine spokesman.
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