The Foundation For The Defense Of Citizens Against State Abuses (FACIAS), uncovered the enormous sums that the Romanian government was forced to spend after losing the case against the National Road Infrastructure Agency. We are talking about more than 2 billion lei, money paid over the last 9 years as a result of negligence, incompetence and abusive decisions by CNAIR.
The way in which the National Road Infrastructure Management Company has managed major road infrastructure projects over the past decade has led to a financial disaster for Romania. FACIAS asked CNAIR for a list of claims and amounts paid or executed between 2015 and 2024 as a result of lawsuits filed in arbitration courts by companies that carried out road and bridge works. That's how it found out the amount of the disaster: more than 2 billion lei. The disputes lost by CNAIR were largely due to incompetent officials, lack of coordination between institutions, failure to comply with contractual obligations and abusive decisions.
Concrete examples of lost trials
- In 2020, the Paris Court of Arbitration ruled that CNAIR must pay Salini just over €48 million (232 million lei) in damages and about €3 million (15 million lei) in legal costs following the termination of the contract for Lot 2 - 29 kilometres between Traian Vuia and Margina - of the Lugoj - Deva motorway. Problems arose at the end of 2013 after the Environment Agency decided that double tunnels of about 2 kilometres should be built on the Margina (Timis county) - Holdea (Hunedoara county) section - with a total length of 9 kilometres - to protect wildlife, namely bears. However, the contract was put out to tender without such a solution, adding another 800 million lei to the price.
- The Italian company Astaldi has won more than €10 million (52 million lei) in damages at the Court of Arbitration in Paris, following a contract to rehabilitate the Arad - Oradea national road, which began in 2009 but was not completed in 2021. The contractor accused CNAIR of failing to carry out expropriations and was therefore prevented from carrying out the works.
- The Austrians from PORR also won damages of more than 40 million euros at the Court of Arbitration of the Romanian Chamber of Commerce, for the contract on lot 4 of the Sebeș-Turda motorway, because the Motorway Company, as in the case of the Arad-Oradea DN, did not make the expropriations in time.
These are just a few examples of the nearly 80 disputes that show how CNAIR is mismanaging large infrastructure projects. Hundreds of millions of euros of public money have been wasted due to incompetence.
Who pays for the damage caused?
FACIAS calls on the Ministry of Transport and the Romanian government to find the culprits and bring them to justice. What should the Romanian state do as a result of this financial disaster?
- Initiation of proceedings for the recovery of damages from the guilty parties:
- Officials and decision-makers who contributed to these losses must be held accountable under the law.
- Assessing and sanctioning those responsible for lost disputes must be a priority.
- Improvement of the contract evaluation and monitoring process:
- Introduce stricter mechanisms for monitoring project implementation.
- Establish a panel of experts to monitor major infrastructure projects.
- Greater transparency in implementing major infrastructure projects:
- Regular publication of progress and cost reports on projects.
- Involvement of civil society and relevant organisations in the monitoring of major projects.
FACIAS calls on the Ministry to control the way in which major infrastructure projects are managed and to take the necessary steps to recover the 2 billion lei in damages from the very people responsible for this huge hole in Romania's budget.