Transport Minister Grindeanu says authorities not to accept bridge over Danube until non-conformities removed
Transport Minister Sorin Grindeanu in Braila on Wednesday said that the suspension bridge over the Danube will not be accepted by the National Road Infrastructure Management Company (CNAIR) until the builder remedies, at its own expense, all non-conformities.
"This bridge has not been accepted and CNAIR will not accept it until all the non-conformities have been removed. What is important, the safety of passengers in traffic is not put at risk. There is no such thing, because otherwise it would not be put into circulation. Until all those non-conformities, some of which you have pointed out, some of which have appeared in the reports requested by CNAIR - we have requested those independent expert reports from several experts, to tell us whether the work done is in conformity or not - have been removed, CNAIR will not accept this work. This work will not be accepted until this company, at its own expense, has removed all the non-conformities. (...) I wish there were no such non-conformities, but as long as the safety of passengers in traffic is not endangered, as long as these non-conformities are removed at the company's expense, I will always choose the same option, to put this bridge in circulation, not to sit and watch it for about six months, until all those non-conformities, which do not endanger traffic safety, are removed. I would choose the same option all the time," said Grindeanu.
The Transport Minister said that CNAIR's current claims to the builder stand at over 80 million lei, but that they could increase if the deadline for the Jijila road is not met.
"At the moment, the claims that CNAIR has against the builder stand at somewhere over 80 million lei, not including the fact that I believe that they will not meet the deadline for unloading on Jijila, which will mean further damages. The company has committed that by the end of this year it will complete the Jijila unloading. I was there this morning with Mr Tudose (MEP Mihai Tudose, editor's note) and Mr Pistol (CNAIR director Cristian Pistol, editor's note) and I saw that variant, they are far from finishing by the end of the year this Jijila unloading," said Grindeanu.
Sorin Grindeau also said regarding the builder of the bridge over the Danube that, given the negative certificates obtained in this project, there is a risk of not being able to participate in other tenders organised by the Ministry of Transport.
The bridge over the Danube in Braila - the largest suspension bridge ever built in Romania, the third largest in Europe and the last bridge over the Danube before it crosses the Black Sea - was inaugurated on July 6, 2023.
The initial value of the project was 1.996 billion lei, excluding VAT, with non-reimbursable external funds, and the builder is Astaldi S.P.A. - IHI Infrastructure System Co. Ltd.
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