“We paid Bechtel a first installment of €140 million in January. We also paid the €90 million debt in June, and while it is true that this was three months late, we will pay the penalty. However Bechtel has only spent €120 mln. Next week we will pay a further installment of €150 million,” said Dorin Debucean, General Manager of CNADNR.
According to the contract signed with Bechtel, the Romanian state has the obligation to pay the company €445 mln in 2008. Mihai Lup, President of the Transilvania Syndicate, to which 1,700 of the 3,500 Bechtel employees belong, said that construction could be delayed or even blocked if the state does not pay the funds stipulated in the contract.
The Transylvania Highway will be 415 km long, from Brasov to Bors, and will require a total investment of €7-8 billion, compared to the initial negotiated value of €2.2 bln.
The contract was signed in December 2003 between CNADNR and US Bechtel International. Following the renegotiation of the contract in February 2006, the deadline for completion was extended by a further year, to December 2013.
