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Viewing cable 08BUCHAREST796, ROMANIA'S TRANSPORTATION INFRASTRUCTURE: TAKING THE SLOW

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Reference ID Created Released Classification Origin
08BUCHAREST796 2008-10-16 05:03 2011-08-30 01:44 UNCLASSIFIED//FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY Embassy Bucharest
VZCZCXRO6776
PP RUEHAG RUEHAST RUEHDA RUEHDF RUEHFL RUEHIK RUEHKW RUEHLA RUEHLN
RUEHLZ RUEHPOD RUEHROV RUEHSR RUEHVK RUEHYG
DE RUEHBM #0796/01 2900503
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 160503Z OCT 08
FM AMEMBASSY BUCHAREST
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 8781
INFO RUEHZL/EUROPEAN POLITICAL COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
RUCPDOC/DEPT OF COMMERCE WASHINGTON DC PRIORITY
RULSDMK/DEPT OF TRANSPORTATION WASHINGTON DC PRIORITY
UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 BUCHAREST 000796 
 
STATE FOR EUR/CE: ASCHIEBE 
 
SIPDIS 
SENSITIVE 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: ECON ELNT EAIR EWWT EINV PGOV RO
SUBJECT:  ROMANIA'S TRANSPORTATION INFRASTRUCTURE:  TAKING THE SLOW 
ROAD 
 
Sensitive but Unclassified; not for Internet distribution. 
 
SUMMARY 
 
1.  (SBU) While the Government of Romania (GOR) is painfully aware 
how large a problem Romania's inadequate infrastructure presents for 
sustaining future growth, improvements will be slow in coming. 
Project financing and management constraints continue to impede 
progress, with signs emerging that the country's decrepit, 
over-taxed road network is already becoming a hindrance to foreign 
investment.  Political and business leaders alike hope that upcoming 
parliamentary elections will produce a renewed political consensus 
to press forward on what are admittedly very ambitious plans:  2,000 
kilometers of new motorway by 2015, increased rail capacity, 
construction of a new airport in Bucharest, and improved transit on 
the Danube River.  Romania's continued integration with the European 
Union can only proceed as quickly as development of these new road, 
rail, air, and water links will allow.  End Summary. 
 
"WE SHOULD HAVE STARTED TEN YEARS AGO" 
 
2.  (SBU) In an October 2 meeting with EconOffs, Ministry of 
Transport (MOT) State Secretary Barna Tanczos sketched out the GOR's 
ambitious plans -- some of which have been on the books for years -- 
for expanding Romania's outdated transport infrastructure.  Tanczos 
admitted that Romania has moved much more slowly than some other 
countries in Eastern Europe, and is only now getting serious about 
projects "which we should have started ten years ago."  Romania's 
rapid economic growth in recent years has overwhelmed the road 
network and magnified the disruptions caused by new construction on 
existing routes for which motorists have few alternatives.  Tanczos 
was candid about constraints on MOT's capacity to fund and oversee 
so many projects, but insisted that Romania is making incremental 
forward progress. 
 
BEATEN UP OVER BECHTEL 
 
3.  (SBU) When asked about Romania's single largest public works 
project -- the 400 kilometer, multi-billion euro Transylvania 
Motorway, being built by Bechtel -- Tanczos affirmed that Bechtel is 
meeting its contractual obligations and the Motorway is making 
visible progress, despite a steady stream of negative reporting in 
the Romanian press about its costs.  When asked why the GOR was not 
more active in publicly defending the project from these constant 
attacks, Tanczos sounded the now-familiar (and somewhat 
disingenuous) complaint that the contract is an imperfect and 
disadvantageous one for the Government.  Still, the GOR is 
determined to move forward even with an "imperfect deal" rather than 
risk the years-long delays that would result from re-tendering the 
project. 
 
4.  (SBU) At the same time, Tanczos admitted that one of Bechtel's 
consistent complaints, that of late payments and inadequate 
financing for the Motorway, is likely to continue.  The EU will not 
allow Romania to use EU structural funds for such a major project 
built by a U.S. contractor, he lamented.  At the same time, external 
financing of any kind became more difficult after the Ministry of 
Economy and Finance (MEF) adopted new regulations in 2007 
prohibiting other ministries from securing their own external 
financing.  This must now be processed through MEF itself and the 
Ministry has refused to approve financing for the Motorway.  The 
result is a painfully slow, pay-as-you-go construction scheme that 
must be supported out of current revenues, rather than completing 
the project more quickly through up-front financing and then 
spreading the cost out over 20-30 years.  MOT is unable to guarantee 
a steady funding stream from MEF out of the central budget, where 
the Motorway must compete annually with the full range of GOR 
priorities. 
 
5.  (SBU) While Bechtel will be fully paid for 2008, Tanczos would 
make no promises regarding 2009, as there may be a very different 
post-election political landscape next year.  (Comment:  Of course, 
new leadership at both MEF and MOT could also be less stingy about 
financing for the Motorway.  This may be particularly true if the 
Social Democrats, or PSD, come to power, as it was the former 
PSD-led government which awarded the original contract to Bechtel in 
2004.  End comment.)  Responding to Bechtel's criticism that the GOR 
has been slow to expropriate land in the Motorway's path, Barna said 
Bechtel itself was partly at fault for making late changes in the 
route.  However, frequent legal challenges by landowners over title 
issues and compensation values are also to blame; Tanczos expressed 
hope that some changes to the expropriation law recently passed by 
Parliament would speed up the process. 
 
MONEY CHALLENGES COMPOUNDED BY MANAGEMENT WOES 
 
6.  (SBU) Tanczos insisted that road building is MOT's highest 
 
BUCHAREST 00000796  002 OF 003 
 
 
priority, and the Transylvania Motorway to the Hungarian border is 
just one of multiple projects on the drawing boards.  If these are 
to succeed, the GOR must take better advantage of both EU structural 
funds and financing from international lending institutions, Tanczos 
explained.  This would allow the GOR to initiate projects with as 
little as 25 percent of the up-front cost coming out of its own 
coffers, putting much less strain on the annual budget.  The GOR is 
also attracted to turnkey deals under which contractors would build 
and operate toll highways through long-term concessions.  This 
tactic will be used on several segments of the long-awaited 
expressway between Bucharest and Brasov, on which preliminary work 
began this year.  Other priorities include the "European Corridor 4" 
linking Arad, Timisoara, and Sibiu with Hungary, and a toll highway 
connecting northern TransylvaniQto Iasi. 
 
7.  (SBU) Asked about the GOR's genuine ability to pursue all these 
projects in the next few years, however, Tanczos confessed that 
official timelines for completion are wildly optimistic.  Beyond 
questions of funding, a major culprit is MOT's struggle to recruit 
and retain qualified contract managers and project engineers, which 
are in strong demand in Romania's booming economy.  Many MOT experts 
have jumped to the private sector and the Ministry needs a number of 
new, qualified personnel simply to keep already-initiated road 
projects on track, he said.  Without them, MOT's capacity to manage 
projects of this magnitude is sorely compromised even if money is 
plentiful. 
 
TRAINS, PLANES, AND BOATS 
 
8.  (SBU) Tanczos said MOT is focused on resolving the even more 
serious management and personnel problems which exist within the 
railroad network, badly neglected in the post-communist era.  A key 
goal is to rehabilitate the dilapidated track system to support more 
freight trains so that more cargo currently moved by truck can be 
taken off congested roads.  MOT is also considering asking Germany 
and Austria for help in completing a feasibility study for a 
high-speed passenger rail link from Bucharest to Budapest and on to 
Vienna. 
 
9.  (SBU) Bucharest's main international airport, Otopeni, is one of 
the few in Europe not connected by rail to the city it serves, and 
can currently be accessed only by car or bus along one of 
Bucharest's most congested thoroughfares.  According to Tanczos, one 
possibility under study is to rehabilitate an existing rail line 
close to the airport and build a station for commuter trains from 
downtown.  This would be much faster and cheaper than the planned 1 
billion euro extension of the Bucharest subway system out to the 
airport, unlikely before 2020.  (Comment:  Japanese diplomats tell 
post that Japan had concluded a deal with the previous PSD 
government to assist with construction of a high-speed rail link to 
Otopeni, but this deal was discarded when the Liberal PNL government 
came to power and has not been revisited.  End comment.)  In terms 
of airport infrastructure, Otopeni will be gradually expanded and 
the close-in Baneasa Airport, which currently serves low-cost, 
charter, and general aviation flights, will likely be closed. 
Building a new airport to the south of Bucharest has also been 
mentioned, though Tanczos confessed this is a distant prospect and 
that improved road and rail access to the existing airport may be a 
better idea. 
 
10.  (SBU) With a rising chorus of complaints from businesses that 
they can no longer ship their products adequately on existing roads, 
Tanczos said that a real possibility exists to make better use of 
the Danube River for moving cargo.  Environmental NGOs are currently 
blocking a project to increase navigability on the Romanian portion 
of the Danube over concerns about potential harm to vulnerable 
sturgeon populations.  Tanczos is hopeful that the GOR can reach a 
compromise with the NGOs to allow a series of smaller projects, 
coupled with extensive monitoring, to move forward. 
 
COMMENT 
 
11.  (SBU) No matter what the outcome of November parliamentary 
elections, politicians and business leaders in Romania appear to 
share a broad consensus that improving transportation infrastructure 
must remain a priority.  The American Chamber of Commerce has 
flagged this issue as a major concern for future economic growth and 
for Romania's ability to continue to attract foreign investment.  As 
Bechtel's experience here has shown, however, persistent GOR funding 
and management constraints can prove perilous even for projects 
already under contract, not to mention those still in the planning 
stages.  Because of this, the widely heralded promise of plentiful 
EU money to fix Romania's infrastructure remains largely unfulfilled 
nearly two years after Romania's EU accession.  There are more 
flights to Frankfurt and Brussels now, but for the Bucharest trucker 
facing a two-day crawl to the Hungarian border along twisting, 
crumbling, congested two-lane roads, the rest of Europe still seems 
 
BUCHAREST 00000796  003 OF 003 
 
 
far away indeed.  End Comment. 
 
TAUBMAN