The hard winter seriously affected the roads of the country. 90% of thee national roads and 95% of the local roads are in need of repair, Minister of Transport and Road Infrastructure Anatol Salaru said at Wednesday's meeting of the Government, quoted by Info-Prim Neo. According to the minister, more than 100,000 tonnes of asphalt will be needed to stop up the holes. This is four times more than the quantity used during the last few years. The repair works will start next week and will finish in June. The streets will be marked and there will be fixed about 8,000 road signs. Many of the signs will be on modern support that does not allow stealing them. The road fund for 2010 includes 582 million lei, about twice more than last year. Over 134 million lei will be used for maintenance and extensive repair works on 15 road sections where the traffic is heavy. The major portions of road that will be repaired are Chisinau – Leuseni, Chisinau– Cimislia – Giurgiulesti, at the border with Romania, and Hancesti– Leova– Cahul– Slobozia Mare. A sum of 181 million lei will go to rehabilitate the Rezina– Orhei–Calarasi road and the Anenii– Noi– Stefan-Voda road, at the border with Ukraine. The repair of the Chisinau– Hancesti road will be finished this year. The works are carried out by a Finish company under a project financed by the European Investment Bank. The project costs €350 million. Tender contests were announced for repairing the following road sections: Peresecina–Sarateni, Balti–Sarateni, and Chisinau–Hancesti. The works will be financed as part of projects financed by foreign backers. The contracts are set to be signed in October. The money provided by the Millennium Challenge Corporation for road rehabilitation, US$130 million of the total US$262 million, will start to be used in 2011.