The construction work of Chisinau-Ungheni road segment will last at least until next year. The reason is that one of the contractors performing the work on this section has financial problems. The project contract was signed in 2014, expiring in 2018. The statements were made by Gheorghe Curmei, the State Road Administration director, during a press conference.
"In Chisinau-Ungheni segment, there are two contractors conducting the works. One of the companies has serious financial problems. It has been under monitoring since the beginning of the year”, Gheorghe Curmei says. According to him, the road is 80% completed from Ungheni to Călărași, while in Călărași-Chisinau region, the road remains to be constructed only within the built up area of Sipoteni, Călărași, Bucovăț, Vatra and Strășeni. "The risks are that one of the contractors will not be able to complete the Strășeni-Chisinau segment this year. We make every effort to see what the administration's possibilities are to support the contractor to complete these works,” he said.
Another contract signed in 2014, with a Portuguese company, is for the construction of Balti-Sangerei route. "After two years of construction works, as the contractor had financial problems, the decision was made to terminate this contract, perceiving the good performance guarantees from the contractor in the amount of around 6 million euros. The money is on the account of the State Road Administration”, director of the State Road Administration says.
Following the termination of the contract, another tender was organized, where a company from Turkey was chosen. At the moment the works are being carried out on Comrat city detour road and Porumbeni-Cimișlia road segment. The contract was signed this year for a two-year term of performance.
Besides, Gheorghe Curmei claims that 10 km of road were contracted by a local company, within the framework of the project of making a detour around Chisinau, after the contract with a Bulgarian company was terminated. There is a technical project for this road, but funding sources are being searched for, with the EBRD being interested in this. The term of construction for the current contractor is of 2 years.
In 2018, seven contracts with international contractors were terminated.