BUSINESSMEN ASK FOR ACCELERATED INVESTMENTS IN TRANSPORT INFRASTRUCTURE

According to an association of Romanian businessmen, the Ministry of Transports and Infrastructure should act immediately to obtain exemptions from the European Commission for the years 2009-2010 in order to carry on works on major road infrastructure projects included in the Trans-European Transport Network.

The association states that delays and inefficient use of money from preaccession funds - particularly under the ISPA framework - were often made public. Since the ISPA funds can’t be spent after 2010, and many projects are delayed, Romanian authorities have to act quick or money will be lost. Also, the association accuses inadequate preparation of projects necessary to attract EU funds after accession, under the Sectorial Operational Programme Transport (SOP-T). The businessmen underline that there are only few beneficiaries of EU funds under the SOP-T, and that all are stateowned companies. According to the press release, this means that the Government has no excuses and is in the end solely responsible for delays, since it controls both the management unit of the SOP-T and the beneficiaries.