Moldovan Transports, Road Infrastructure Ministry asks foreign construction companies to observe national highway restoration contracts

Chisinau, 2 March /MOLDPRES/- The leadership of the Transports and Road Infrastructure Ministry today held a meeting with the representatives of the OHL ZS Czech Company. The sides discussed the critical state of the restoration works of R1 Chisinau-Ungheni-Sculeni national highway.

Transports and Road Infrastructure Minister Iurie Chirinciuc said the contract saw that the Czech company was in charge of restoring two road segments, and namely, Straseni-Bahmut and Ungheni bypass road. In both cases, restoration works were supposed to be completed in August 2016, however, only 10, and respectively 12 per cent of them are currently being done.  

“We are dissatisfied with the way works are developing. The company does not obey contract provisions and does not fulfill its commitments. The ministry has honored its obligations and financing was made according to the arrangements. Therefore, we want them to give us some conclusive explanations on this,” Chirinciuc said.

Following more debates with the representatives of OHL ZS Czech Company, the minister noted that “the situation was not good at all, however, managers promised to solve the problem and complete works by late 2016”. “You have to mobilize your forces and your staff to catch up. We are not interested in excuses and justifications. We want EU-quality roads within the established deadline,” Chirinciuc emphasized.

The entrepreneurs assured that they would resume works in mid March 2016 and would use additional means to fill in the gaps.

The restoration project of Chisinau-Ungheni-Sculeni road segment was launched in June 2014. According to it, an amount of 75 million euros, offered by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, was going to be used to restore a road portion of approximately 92 km within two years. The project is carried out by two international companies- Euro-Asian Construction Corporation „EVRASCON” JSC from Azerbaijan and “OHL ZS” from Czech Republic.

On 4 February, Chirinciuc held a meeting with the representatives of the Azerbaijani company as well. He asked them to observe the provisions of the contract. The minister also warned them that “the violation of road restoration agreements implies high costs for Moldova and thus will determine it to terminate contracts”.

(Reporter L. Grubii, Editor A. Raileanu)