Romanian transport minister Razvan Cuc said on Friday that he would talk to the European Commission about giving up the project to build tunnels on the Lugoj-Deva highway, to allow bears to pass over the highway. Environment experts, however, replied that European experts would not give up the tunnels, reports local Economica.net.

The whole issue is related to the price. Building the Lugoj-Deva highway with these tunnels for bears requires an extra EUR 100 million. Without the tunnel, the construction of the highway segment amounts to EUR 108 million.

Prime Minister Sorin Grindeanu recently said that a highway segment between Deva and Lugoj has doubled its costs due to a request the Government made in 2009-2010 to include tunnels for bears. “Only we don’t have bears. Without the tunnels, the highway segment costs EUR 108 million. With the bear tunnels – EUR 220 million,” Grindeanu said.

However, the environment permit issued for the highway provides the construction of these Eco-ducts, which allow bears to pass. “From our point of view, the procedure has been closed,” said Octavian Patrascu, director in the National Agency for Environment Protection. According to him, the construction of Eco-ducts for large mammals has been provided ever since 2011.

Moreover, dropping the tunnels would require digging 40 meters, the equivalent of a ten-storey building, through a hill, which is a bad technical solution, according to Catalin Drula, a deputy of Save Romania Union (USR) and a former infrastructure advisor to former PM Dacian Ciolos. Drula pointed out that a similar solution of cutting into a hill has caused problems on a segment of the Sibiu-Orastie highway.

The highway segment in question is part of the highway that goes from Sibiu, in central Romania, to the Nadlac border with Hungary, connecting Transylvania to Western Europe. The highway would also connect Bucharest to Western Europe, when the highly-anticipated Sibiu-Pitesti highway will be built.

The highway is part of the pan-European Corridor IV and much of the financing for building is covered by the European Commission.

Romanian Transport Ministry opens 15 kilometers of highway

editor@romania-insider.com