Some 2,500 kilometres of highway to be constructed in the 2008-2018 period out of which half to be built as PPP
 
Romania could build some 2,500 kilometres of highway in the 2008-2018 period, almost half of which is to be funded by means of a public-private partnership, said Radu Berceanu, Minister of Transport yesterday. "The Ministry of Transport has set out to build 1,500 kilometres of highway in the next eight years. We will be able to make the necessary preparations so as to build some 2,500 kilometres from 2008 through 2018," said Berceanu in an economy seminar. He specified that the construction of 1,500 kilometres of highway provided for in the government programme would use funds from the state budget, the EU and from international financial institutions. "In addition to these sources of funding, we want to have licence agreements for highways, i.e. public-private partnership projects for consortia of companies, which would be handling design, construction and administration of highway segments over a 30-year period," said Berceanu.

Source: Ziarul Financiar, 15 December 2006

For Prior Information Notices on construction works for highways in Romania please check the http://ted.europa.eu/ website.

CEE countries may apply for free technical assistance for major projects mainly in the transport and environmental sector. To bring this support close to the applicants, JASPERS (Joint Assistance to Support Projects in European Regions) opened its first regional office on 12 January, 2007 in Warsaw.

The JASPERS (Joint Assistance to Support Projects in European Regions) programme is a technical assistance partnership between the European Commission’s Regional Policy DG, the European Investment Bank (EIB) and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD).

JASPERS is managed by the EIB, within a structure that is separate from its lending activities. Its headquarters is in Luxembourg and three regional offices are being established in Central and Eastern Europe: an office in Warsaw (for Poland and the Baltic States), another in Vienna (for the Czech Republic, the Slovak Republic, Hungary and Slovenia) and a third in Bucharest (for Bulgaria and Romania).

A team comprising of 54 technical, economic and financial experts is being put in place to provide technical assistance to the countries eligible for the JASPERS programme.

The JASPERS programme is made available to Member States to help them prepare major projects, mainly in the transport, environmental and other sectors where there may be large projects financed by the ERDF and the Cohesion Fund. The twelve new Member States are considered priority countries, although in principle the programme remains open to the other countries covered by the convergence objective.

JASPERS complements the project preparation work carried out by the national authorities. The total investment cost for the projects supported normally must exceed EUR 25 million for environmental projects and EUR 50 million for transport and other projects. However, these thresholds are interpreted flexibly for projects in small countries.

The use of JASPERS is without financial cost for the applicant is optional and involves no obligation for the Member States. The technical assistance provided by the JASPERS programme experts is provided free of charge to those States wishing to benefit from it. Furthermore, they are under no obligation to borrow from the EIB and the EBRD to finance their projects. By the same token, these institutions are under no obligation to grant financing for the execution of the projects in question.

For more information: http://jaspers.europa.eu/

Source: JASPERS General Brochure