EU Funding for Transport Infrastructure

Regional Policy Commissioner Corina Cretu discussed Romanias Transport Master Plan for 2014-2020.

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România Internațional, 11.03.2015, 13:44

Until 2020 the European Commission will contribute 6.8 billion euros for the infrastructure projects included in Romania’s Transport Master Plan, the European Commissioner for Regional Policy Corina Cretu announced in Bucharest on Tuesday, after talks with Transport Minister Ioan Rus. According to Corina Cretu, the European Commission pays special attention to Romania’s Transport Master Plan, a strategic document whose endorsement is a prerequisite for the disbursement of EU funding for large-scale transport projects in 2014-2020.

Corina Cretu: “In the opinion of the Commission, the top priority of this Master Plan is to ensure the completion, in due time, of the projects that are part of the TEN-T network, the trans-European transport network.”

Secondly, Cretu added, the Commission expects the document to identify the most important projects for the broadened TEN-T network, which in turn may benefit from European funding. This means that the Master Plan should include the most important projects, in economic terms, and ensure that they will receive financial support not only for construction as such, but also for maintenance, the EC official explained. She emphasized that the Master Plan is relevant not only for the current 7-year financing cycle, but also for Romania’s economic development in the next 15 to 20 years.

According to Corina Cretu, Brussels is waiting for Romania to submit the final version of the document as soon as possible, hopefully next month, so that the Operational Programme “Large-Scale Infrastructure” may be signed in May.

In his turn, Transport Minister Ioan Rus said a list of projects has been finalized, for all the components of the transport sector which will be included in the Transport Master Plan, namely road, naval, railway, and air transport. According to the minister, 25% of the costs will be covered by the European Union, 15% by the Romanian state, and the balance will come from loans taken from the European Investment Bank and the EBRD. Moreover, Rus added, the Government approved an additional contribution of 7 billion euros, to enable Romania to start as many of these projects as possible this year.

Rus also said that on Wednesday and Thursday representatives of his ministry will have technical talks with EC officials in Brussels, concerning the final text of Romania’s Transport Master Plan and the Implementation Strategy, a key document that lays down project priorities, a calendar for implementation and the structure of funding sources for each project.