A CRISIS OF PRIORITIES

After 50 days of excruciating strain, we have a budget! And even more, it gives priority to infrastructure investments, according to Government representatives. On paper, the ten billion euros earmarked for infrastructure suggest a better pace of solving the top problems for carriers: bad roads, shaky rails, temporarily usable inland waterways, undersized airport terminals...

In fact, the figures included in the budget show that from the ten billion only two go to the Ministry of Transports and Infrastructure. And this amount only covers the costs of building a single highway, from one boundary to another, if money was given for that only project and if the contractor would not be named Bechtel. But with the great demands and great pressure from the local authorities, such an investment is unthinkable: the two billion will vanish in the thin air, in a load of small projects. Although the top priority announced by the Ministry is the highway construction, this year there will see finalised a mere 75 kilometres. With such progress, some twenty years will pass until Romania will have its planned motorway network, not seveneight years, as current or former ministers foresee. In this time, other states, having invested more or less in infrastructure, will have real opportunities to build transport corridors that will bypass Romania and will keep our country’s forgotten periphery status. In this time of crisis it is probably the best moment for Romania to re-capitalize its geographical advantage, to persuade the Asian economies to transit goods through Romania or Europeans to be more generous with the ratios of the EU’s budget. Despite this, it seems there’s no chance to follow the saying ”shape your fate“, as the budget shows that we rather suffer from a crisis of priorities, instead of having crisis’ priorities.