The road that bypasses Ungheni town on a distance of about 8 km was inaugurated in an official ceremony on August 3. The road will ensure direct access to the Sculeni border crossing point. It was built with €8.63 million provided by the EU in grant aid and 20 million lei allocated from the Road Fund, IPN reports.
Attending the event, Prime Minister Pavel Filip said hard work was done on this project and the road was ultimately inaugurated, but with delay, owing to the numerus obstacles met on the way. The road is expected to reduce transit traffic through Ungheni town and this is for the benefit of locals.
EU Ambassador to Moldova Peter Michalko said the road was built for the citizens of the Republic of Moldova and this will improve the connection with the EU border, reducing the distance by 11 km. The belt road will facilitate trade and will enable large trucks to bypass the center of Ungheni.
Mayor of Ungheni Alexandru Ambros said the traffic of large trucks, namely those that travelled on the Chisinau-Ungheni-Sculeni road, was an older problem of the town. The new road will increase the safety of those who live in Ungheni and their state of comfort.
“We are convinced that this propjet will help cultivate a European behavior in the traffic participants, will increase the safety level and will lead to a reduction in the number of accidents and victims,” stated Sergey Diaconu, president of the Association of Automobilists of Moldova.
According to the authorities, the new road will allow at least 400 heavy trucks to daily bypass the center of Ungheni. This will reduce traffic congestion and pollution and will improve the quality of life for the over 35,000 inhabitants of Ungheni and the neighboring villages. The road was built by the Czech company OHL ZS and its Moldovan subcontractor Rutador.
The construction of the bypassing road forms part of a broad program to modernize and build key roads in the country with different investments and non-reimbursable financing to the value of €670 million, provided by the EU, the EBRD, the EIB, the WB and the U.S. Government’s foreign aid agency Millennium Challenge Corporation.
