Lot 3 Pietroasele–Buzău of Romania’s A7 highway, also known as the Moldova highway, was inaugurated on Thursday, November 27. The newly inaugurated segment is 13.9 km long.
The A7 connects Romania’s historic regions of Muntenia, the southern part of the country, with Moldova, the eastern part.
“We are opening another 13 km of the Moldova Motorway to traffic, the Pietroasele–Buzău Lot, so we will be able to drive from Bucharest to Focșani over a distance of 210 km. After discussions with the builder, we aim to open up to the vicinity of Adjud by the end of this year,” said transport minister Ciprian Șerban.
Present at the inauguration, former transport minister Sorin Grindeanu said that the segment could have been opened last year.
“We could have had this inauguration one year earlier if the National Council for Solving Complaints and all the other institutions had done their job better, but I want to congratulate the builders; they finished ahead of schedule,” he said, adding that the segment is extremely important for the city of Buzău, according to Agerpres.
The works, carried out by the association Nurol Inșaat Ve Ticaret Anonim Șirketi – Makyol Inșaat Sanayi Turizm Ve Ticaret Anonim Șirketi, began on March 1, 2024, with an execution period of 20 months. The value of the contract was over RON 1 billion, without VAT, financed through the National Recovery and Resilience Plan.
Former prime minister Marcel Ciolacu, currently running for president of the Buzău County Council, also took part in the event organized before the opening of the segment. The official, who has faced accusations of letting Romania’s budget deficit balloon to 9.3% of GDP during his tenure, argued that the money went into infrastructure investments.
“We invested RON 120 billion. We all know the comments, both good and bad, mostly bad. To those who criticized me, I answer with only one thing: let them come and see this highway, let them drive on it, especially since winter is coming, and in winter, driving on the highway is the safest,” emphasized Marcel Ciolacu.
However, independent analyses show that around a third of the money went to investments. The rest were directed to wage increases in the public sector or subsidies.
Lot 1 of the Moldova Highway opened in December 2024. Overall, the A7 highway is around 320 km long.
(Photo source: Sorin Grindeanu on Facebook video capture)
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