The former Romanian Prime Minister Adrian Nastase, who recently came out of jail in a corruption case, and under whose helm Romania signed the highway construction contract with Bechtel, recently explained why the contract went south and brought the country additional costs. Romania recently canceled the contract with Bechtel, after 10 years and with only 52 kilometers of the 415 kilometer highway built.

Nastase explained that the Transylvania highway contract was politically sabotaged in 2005, when the incumbent president Traian Basescu – then president as well – and the then-Transport Minister interrupted work for two years. “Please remember that in 2005, Traian Basescu wanted to see whether Bechtel paid any commissions to the Government I led and interrupted work for almost two years. The Transport Minister Gheorghe Dobre is responsible for that decision,” said the former PM.

He also explained why the price of the contract tripled in 2005 – the equipment to build the highway had already been brought to Romania and the prices for cement, iron and expropriations went up. The former PM also said the country's president and the Government in 2005 showed hatred towards Bechtel, which was also based on the choice of track for the highway, different that what Traian Basescu's 'friend' at the European Investment Bank EIB wanted. The PM did not give the name of the EIB official who allegedly wanted a different track for this highway, thus influencing political decisions.

“Why has Bechtel managed to build the Croatian highway to Dubrovnik or the Albanian highway to Kosovo? We have to ask ourselves these questions. Of course that the project was politically sabotaged,” Adrian Nastase concluded.

Romania recently finalized negotiations with Bechtel to cancel the Transylvania highway contract, and to do so the country still has to pay EUR 37.2 million, which represents the amount still due for work Bechtel has done. Romania ended up paying a EUR 1.4 billion bill, out of a EUR 2.2 billion initial contract. Dan Sova, the minister delegate for infrastructure projects promised that after all the formalities will be done, the contract, signed in 2003 when Adrian Nastase was a Prime Minister, will become public.

editor@romania-insider.com

(photo source: Adrian Nastase on Facebook)