On October 15, the sixth deadline, which had already been postponed several times, expired for the design of the Poarta Sălajului-Zalău-Nușfalău section as part of the Transilvania highway (41 km). The planned route also includes a double underground tunnel, each direction reaching a length of 2.8 kilometers under the Meseș Mountains in Sălaj County. On Tuesday, CNAIR published on the national procurement portal that the new deadline is October 31, 2024. This change means an extension of about two weeks compared to the previous deadline of October 15. Since the end of April, CNAIR has postponed the deadline several times: first for four months in each instance, then twice for two weeks each, to select the winner from the three remaining competing companies. The tender was already launched in February 2023. CNAIR announced another postponement even though its spokesperson, Alin Șerbănescu, had previously claimed that the October 15 deadline would be the latest decision-making date. This did not happen. Europa Liberă also reported that financial shortages might be behind the deadline extensions, according to Ionuț Ciurea, president of the Pro Infrastructura association. The main source of Romania's highway funding, the 2021-2027 Transport Program, is already overcommitted. The budget for road infrastructure investments is approximately 5.5 billion euros, while the program's total value is 9.6 billion euros (of which 4.6 billion euros are EU funds), but the total value of contracted and tendered investments is much higher, Ciurea said. "It's not about the funding.
The problem is the enormous amount of paperwork, annexes, and situation assessments to be processed,” Șerbănescu stated then. The highest-value highway contract The contract value is the largest ever announced for the design and execution of a single highway in Romania, estimated at 1.5-1.76 billion euros. Out of the original seven participants, three companies remain in the race: Romanian UMB, Turkish Makyol, and Italian Webuild. These companies have the most road infrastructure construction contracts in Romania. UMB is working on approximately 350 km of expressway in Romania, including all sections of the A7 Moldovan highway between Buzău and Pașcani, the Craiova-Pitești expressway, and two sections of the Transilvania highway. WeBuild is working on two sections of the highway between Sibiu and Pitești and is also the contractor for the infamous Brăila bridge, in addition to fulfilling railway contracts. Makyol is working on four sections of the Sibiu-Făgăraș (A13) highway and one section of the A7, in collaboration with another Turkish company, Nurol. The high value of the contract to be won ensures financial resources for the winning company for several years, which explains the intense competition, Alin Șerbănescu previously told Europa Liberă. The companies have serious legal teams specializing in infrastructure contracts, which adds further pressure on the parties, he explained. The need to clarify among the participants and to suspend the procedures due to objections lodged against CNAIR, as well as corrective measures carried out by the state company, became necessary. The tender was launched more than a year and a half ago, in February 2023, after the government approved a higher budget than initially announced in 2022.
