Stopped 25 years ago after the fall of communism, work on the Bucharest – Danube will have to wait 16 more years to re-start, because of the high price tag – EUR 1.5 billion, according to Mediafax.

The only solution to re-start the project sooner would be to break it into stages, after the EC gives the green light. The Commission has highlighted the high maintenance costs of such a project, but Romanian officials say the rules in the national transport master plan would keep maintenance costs under control.

Work on the Bucharest – Danube channel started in 1986, but stopped after the fall of Communism in 1989. The channel would have made water transport possible between Bucharest's Dambovita river and the Black Sea via Danube, and its project was started after the Danube – Black Sea channel was finalized in 1984.

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