Americans finally here, with $55 million for MK military base

Some $35 million will be used to tear down old buildings and construct new ones on the base, with new facilities able to accommodate some 2,000 troops. An additional $20 million will be spent on new buildings and upgrading the MK base.

Stars and Stripes also writes that the presence of U.S. troops in Constanta and their rotation, scheduled to begin next summer, has already led to an economic boom in the region. Locals are hoping that the coming of U.S. troops to the base will be followed by U.S. investments, the newspaper added.

Kellogg Brown and Root (KBR), a former subsidiary of U.S. giant Halliburton, is the main supplier of U.S. soldiers at Kogalniceanu, but the troops are buying goods worth thousands of dollars from local producers every day.

The U.S. presence in Constanta has also led to the creation of hundreds of jobs. The Proof of Principle drill alone, a two-month, historic exercise involving American and Romanian military forces, taking place this summer, will involve the employing of some 600 Romanian workers, from barbers to cooks.

Real estate is also booming in the area. The value of properties close to the air base have risen significantly since the announcement that U.S. troops were coming to Constanta County. Goat and sheep pastures worth $2,700 per hectare before the arrival of American soldiers, and now selling for thousands of dollars more, the Stripes writes.

Moreover, the U.S. government is providing assistance to local companies, by organizing seminars on how to bid for contracts with the army.

For the U.S. military, Romania is a new NATO ally willing to provide strategic bases, cheaper and closer to Central Europe and the Middle East than older bases in Western Europe. Romania, one of the poorest European countries, views the U.S. military presence as an opportunity to improve the local economy.

Bases
Four military locations in Romania are to be used by U.S. troops: the Kogalniceanu air base, the Babadag training base and the Smardan training area, all in the southeastern part of the country, and the Cincu training area in central Romania.