July 6 (SeeNews) - Romania plans to invite bids for the construction of some 800 km of motorways this year, helped by the government's efforts to reduce delays in public auctions, the transport ministry has said.
The main projects, for which tenders will be called this year, are the Sibiu-Pitesti motorway and Craiova-Pitesti motorway, the southern ring road of Bucharest and the Targu Mureş - Iasi - Ungheni section, the transport ministry said in a press release on Wednesday.
The tender notices will be posted on the website of Romania's electronic system for public procurement, SEAP.
"We have unlocked infrastructure projects worth 14 billion euro ($15.8 billion) so far. I presented the prime minister with a black-list of contractors, as well as a list of companies who regularly contest auction results," transport minister Razvan Cuc said.
Cuc has been in office since January and this is his second term at the transport ministry.
"We will prepare a draft government decision to eliminate these complaints that block our projects for years," he added.
In 2016, no additions were made to Romania's network of motorways compared to the previous year, according to data made available by the country's statistical office.
Romania, with a territory of some 238,400 square kilometres and a population of 20.1 million, has some 747 kilometres of motorways, equal to just 4.2% of the total length of national roads.
($=0.8832 euro)