August 22, 2022

Newsroom, 22.08.2022, 14:36

CONTRACT A major funding
contract for the railway network part of the Romania’s National Recovery and
Resilience Plan (PNRR), a project of roughly 1.75 billion euros has been
signed. The contract provides for streamlining the Caransebes-Timisoara-Arad
railway with a total length of 162 kilometers. According to Transport Minister
Sorin Grindeanu this is a major step towards the modernization of the railway
network in western Romania, which is part of the European transport corridor
Orient/East Mediterranean. PNRR funds are going to be used to double and
streamline the aforementioned railway in order to allow trains to run at 160
kilometers per hour. The project also provides for the modernization and
building of railway stations in certain urban areas, building pedestrian
walkways and adjusting platforms to European standards.

TALKS Romanian Prime
Minister, Nicolae Ciuca, Energy Minister, Virgil Popescu, and representatives
of the National Energy Regulatory Authority have convened to assess further support
schemes for the population against the background of the latest electricity
price hikes. These are to be applied after March 31st, until when
household and non-household consumers are benefitting from subsidized gas and
electricity depending on their consumption. The government wants to invest in
new energy infrastructure projects aimed at exploiting local resources. In
another development, the executive in Bucharest might endorse this week an
emergency ordinance providing for another pay rise for state employees.
According to Finance Minister Adrian Caciu, the rise has already been applied
in the country’s education and medical sectors and will soon be applied in the
other sectors of the economy.

WEATHER
Meteorologists have again issued yellow and orange alerts for unstable weather
and heavy rain in almost the entire Romanian territory. Until Tuesday night most
of the regions are to see thunderstorms, heavy downpours, gale force winds and
in some areas hail. The heat index will remain high in south-eastern
Romania.

PROGRAMME The
Environment Fund Administration (EFA) in Romania is expected to launch next
week a programme for scrapping vehicles older than 15 years. Under the
aforementioned programme owners can get 600 Euros without the obligation of
buying a new vehicle. Half of the sum will be covered from the EFA funds and
the rest from local budgets. Through its National Plan of Recovery and
Resilience, Romania pledges to get rid of 250 thousand old polluting vehicles
by 2026.

TENNIS Romanian
tennis player Irina Begu on Sunday qualified for the round of 16 of the WTA 250
tournament in Cleveland USA, which has over 250 thousand dollars in
prize-money. The Romanian secured a two-set win against US challenger Peyton
Sterns and she will be up next against the winner of the game pitching Sofia
Kenin of the USA against other qualified player. Another Romanian in the
competition, Sorana Cirstea will be playing fourth-seeded Elise Mertens of
Belgium.

UKRAINE The invading Russian
army has again shelled objectives in several regions of Ukraine. The southern
city of Mykolaiv has been struck by several S-300 missiles and the region of
Odessa has been attacked with rockets fired from vessels in the Black Sea. The
city of Nikopol close to the nuclear power plant in Zaporizhzhia has been hit
by scores of artillery shells amid growing fears of a potential nuclear
disaster in the region. US president Joe Biden on Sunday held talks with French
president Emmanuel Macron, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and German
chancellor Olaf Scholz about the safety of Ukraine’s nuclear power plants and
the support they can provide to this country. In Kyiv, president Zelensky has cautioned
against potential large-scale attacks by Russian troops around Ukraine’s
Independence Day, which marks the country’s breaking ties with the former USSR.
The event takes place on August 24, six months from the onset of the Russian
invasion. In another development, another two ships loaded with Ukrainian grain
bound for Istanbul have been authorized to leave the Ukrainian Black Sea ports
under the UN-brokered agreement signed by Ukraine, Turkey and Russia.

(bill)