CNAIR ordered the start of works for the construction of the 28.55 kilometers of the section between Chiribiș and Biharia of the Transilvania Motorway only from next year, almost two years after an association led by the Oradean company Precon Transilvania won the tender organized by the Company for this purpose and one year after signing the contract. A former secretary of state from the Ministry of Transport accuses the current minister Sorin Grinceanu of “cynically blocking” the lot in Bihor.
After a year
CNAIR issued the order to start the contract for the Chiribiș – Biharia lot only with the date of “May 2025”, practically two years after winning the tender and one year after signing the contract, the economedia.ro website announced, citing it the former Secretary of State from the Ministry of Transport Horațiu Cosma.
“It is an unprecedented situation whereby the Ministry of Transport and CNAIR delay another year for the Chiribiș – Biharia lot”, the journalists comment, recalling that the signing of the contract between CNAIR and the association of companies that won the tender took place only in April of this year, almost a year after the completion of the procedure, in June 2023.
“Wretched through and through. Sorin Grindeanu is cynically blocking the Transilvania Highway in Bihor county for another year (…) Grindeanu is knowingly sabotaging the A3 Transilvania Highway”, said former state secretary Horațiu Cosma.
“You can’t have two contracts”
Initially, CNAIR sources stated that the information regarding the order to start the works only from “May 2025” would have been the result of a material error, because such an order is usually issued after the signing of the contract with immediate validity, not after a year, as in this case.
Contacted by Bihorthe spokesperson of CNAIR, Alin Șerbănescu, clarified that it is not about any material error and that the order to start the works will only be valid from May next year.
The reason, according to him, is that “basically, we have two contracts for the same work, and a process for the termination of the previous contract must be resolved. You cannot have two work start orders for two different contracts at the same time for the same work”.
Concretely, although the contract between CNAIR and the association Precon (a company controlled by Beneamin Rus, owner of the Selina group) – Citadina was signed last month, the Bucharest Court of Appeal has a lawsuit challenging the termination decision by CNAIR, in 2022, of a previous contract, concluded in 2020 with the association Trameco, Drumuri Bihor (both also from the Selina group), Vahostav SK (Slovakia) and Waterdrillings (Bucharest).
Contacted by BIHOREAN, a representative of Precon Transilvania criticized the CNAIR decision, which unjustifiably delays the progress of the works, linking two unrelated contracts. “Signing a contract with an association of companies and issuing the order to start work cannot be conditioned by the existence of a terminated contract with other companies. We will ask CNAIR for clarification and a new trial will probably be reached,” said the Precon representative.
Winner kept in check
As Bihor he also wrote, the association of the companies Precon Transilvania from Oradea, controlled by the owner of the Selina group, Beneamin Rus, and Citadina 98 from Galati won the tender organized by CNAIR for the Chiribiș – Biharia lot already last summer, but the Company delayed signing the contract with all that the result of the procedure was validated both by the National Council for the Resolution of Appeals and, then, by the Bucharest Court of Appeal, after one of the competitors had filed an appeal, and later addressed the court.
Although, based on court rulings, CNAIR was obliged to sign the contract with Precon – Citadina as early as November 2023, the Company did not comply, and in February of this year, Minister Sorin Grindeanu even publicly declared that the fault would belong to the local company, which would not be sent the necessary documentation to the Company.
In 24 months
According to the contract between CNAIR and the association of companies Precon – Citadina, signed only in the middle of last month, the builders must hand over the completed works between Chiribiș and Biharia within 24 months from the issuance of the order to start the works, having at their disposal, according to this act, a period of 6 months for design and 18 months for execution.
The value of the contract for the construction of the 28.55 km of this lot is 785.215 million lei (without VAT), the source of financing being the European funds provided by the Transport Program 2021-2027. Including 7 bridges and 11 passages will be built on the route.
Previously, several contracts were terminated by the former CNADNR, starting with the one concluded in 2004 with the Americans from Bechtel, and by the current CNAIR, the last one in 2021, with an association of companies from the Selina group, which were accused of asking for additional the value of the contract of 326 million lei, on the grounds that, as an expertise had shown, soil consolidation works were necessary. The highlight is that although with the termination of the contract with the association led by Trameco, it was also penalized by CNAIR with 4.6 million lei, in the end it introduced in the specifications the additional works that the contractor showed were absolutely necessary.
On the other hand, it should be mentioned that for the other lot of the A3 in Bihor, between Chiribiș and Suplacu de Barcău, CNAIR ordered the start of the works on March 15, the contract for the 26 km being won by Erbașu Construcții.
See below what the place where the highway should have been looks like, between Chiribiș and Suplacu de Barcău. Video: Marin Marian
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