Romania’s Metrorex about to start work for a subway to Otopeni Airport
Romania’s subway company Metrorex is about to start work at a subway line to the Henri Coanda International Airport at Otopeni, near capital Bucharest. First drilling tools already arrived at a site near Băneasa Shopping Centre, Mihai Barbu, head of Metrorex Administrative Council, said on Thursday. Two equipments are expected in a sector between North Railway Station and Băneasa area. First six stations are part of a three-year project while an M6 highway from Băneasa to Otopeni Airport is also part of a plan including another six stops. In case everything goes according to the plan, work is expected to end in a period between 2027 and 2028 at the earliest.
A contract leading nowhere
A contract designed to get a new look of Gara de Nord, the main railway station in Romania’s capital Buchares, cannot be signed with the winning company of the tender after two complaints before a National Appeal Court. A first stage of a four-year-and-a half contract, of over RON 400 million, has been agreed at a time when a body of Romania’s Transport Ministry was still checking the deal as the winner was never involved before in work of such complexity.
Mayor detained by DNA prosecutors
The mayor of Mioveni was detained by prosecutors of Romania’s anticorruption watchdog, the DNA, on Thursday. The move comes after mayor Ion Georgescu was subject to hour-long hearings, his lawyer Ingrid Alexandrescu told reporters. The mayor is accused of requesting 10,000 euros to a man who supposedly took the money as a loan, the lawyer said. The mayor claims his innocence as he didn’t expect such a turnout. “Basically, the mayor is accused of requesting 30,000 euros to favour the employment of the whistleblower as a physician, which, obviously, the mayor denies and he certainly does not think that it happened, (…) and today he called him to return of 10,000 euros to the whistleblower – out of the 30,000 euros he had taken as a loan last autumn”, the lawyer said. Mr. Georgescu and the whistleblower were friends for 30 years, the lawyer said. Ion Georgescu, a leading member of the governing Social-Democrat Party (PSD) is involved in an influence peddling case, according to sources. PSD leadership in the Argeș county (southern Romania) voted to exclude Mr. Georgescu from the party late on Wednesday.
Alexandru Danga
