Nine O'Clock - Constructions market to grow by 16 pc annualy for 10 years

Ziarul Nine O'Clock, Andreea Budica - 30 noiembrie 2006

Minister Delegate for Public Works Laszlo Borbely says the building market is only partially ready for accession.

Bucharest - The Romanian construction market has grown by 16 per cent in the last year and is bound to go up at a similar rate over the next ten years, as a result of the European and budget-funded projects, Minister of Transport, Construction and Tourism Radu Berceanu stated yesterday.

"Over the next ten years we shall need approximately 2.000 km of motorways. We shall not be able to build that in such a short time unless we establish such partnerships,” added the Minister.

Building material shortage in 2007
The Minister of Transport also said that the Romanian construction market might be faced as from next year with a shortage of building materials as a result of the commencement of many infrastructure developments. "When work begins on those projects that already have risen the funding, we shall have a huge problem with the building materials that we don’t know where to take," said the Minister. He added that he would try to facilitate the procurement of construction materials while rendering the legislation more flexible to make sure the projects are completed on time.

Although there is a lot of money and many eligible projects in the construction marketplace, the sector might still encounter problems because of the workforce shortage, said Minister Delegate for Public Works Laszlo Borbely. The building market is partially ready for accession to the EU, the main challenge expected being the wages that will need to be comparable to those paid in other EU member states, in order to bring back the manpower into the country, added Borbely.

Berceanu: competence and not the price!
In what regards the tendering procedures and who wins, the minister of transport believes that infrastructure contracts should be awarded based on criteria of competence and not economical considerations, since the amounts contractors finally receive are higher than the initially offered ones. "If we could get rid of this price fetish we could do much better and cheaper things," said Berceanu.

Berceanu further said that, based on estimations made by his ministry, the difference between prices tendered and amounts the contractors received when completing the works over the past 13-14 years amounted to nearly EUR 1 bln, enough to build some 300 km of motorways.