Authorities in eastern Romanian city of Braila block 3 million euro project

A project for the rehabilitation of the city center in Braila, eastern Romania has been selected to receive 3 million euro funds from European PHARE program, but a series of technical misunderstandings between local authorities managed to postpone the works by eight months. Development minister Laszlo Borbely declared that he will dismiss one of the contractors, namely the Portughese company OPCA.

The other contractor to win the tender was the Spanish SEDESA which will, for the moment, become the only contractor of the project.

Local authorities have failed to get to an understanding whether one of the main streets should or should be not blocked from traffic until the project is finished. In other words, Braila mayor Constantin Cibu insisted that the street should not be restricted to traffic. Another disagreement among officials is the technical solution proposed for the rehabilitation works.

OPCA Romania manager Louis Festes has said that the main problem was actually the technical project because it did not comply with European standards. He explained that since the buildings are old, they would need to be rehabilitated from scratch, but PHARE only funds repairment works.

Development Minister, Lazlo Borbely says that local authorities in Braila have a history of failed European funded projects. He added that the failure was a direct consequence of the poor projects that are accepted through the tenders.