The mandate I had at the Ministry of Transport was not easy, and I even had enough challenges, but, in the end, I declare myself satisfied and proud of the things I have achieved, declared, on Tuesday, the former Minister of Transport and Infrastructure Sorin Grindeanu, when handing over the term to Ciprian Serban.

„I had an emotional meeting with all the directors in the ministry, with some of the company directors. However, it has been 3 and a half years since we tried to do good things together at the Ministry of Transport, but today the time has come for me to hand over the baton to my younger colleague, Ciprian Serban. Continuity in vision is needed in this field. When I took over this ministry 3 and a half years ago, I promised one thing: that I would deliver; I would deliver kilometers of highway to Romanians, I would try at the Ministry of Transport to change the rhythm that, unfortunately, Romanians have been used to in the 30 or so years since the Revolution. I cannot say that I had an easy mandate, or even a mandate with quite a few challenges, but in the end I can declare myself proud of what I did together with my team, together with those in the Ministry of Transport, to whom I once again „Thank you, with the company directors. I declare myself satisfied, proud of the things I have done. There is always room for better, obviously, and I leave this challenge for Ciprian to do things even better and I am convinced that he will do this, because he leaves with the dynamism of youth and the desire to continue on this path,” Grindeanu said at the handover ceremony.

Sorin Grindeanu emphasized that in the over three years he led the Ministry of Transport and Infrastructure, almost 400 kilometers of highways and expressways were built.

„In November 2021, Romania had, to give an example, up to 900 km of motorways and expressways – 120 – 130 km built before the Revolution. Today, when we leave here, we are at 1,300. So, about 400 km in three and a half years. If we had had this pace in all the years after the Revolution, we would now have a network of about 3,000 or so km of motorway. By the end of the year – 1,500 (km), so that target of 200 or so kilometers that remained and that we announced when we presented the budget in Parliament at the end of the year remains valid. In fact, the first inauguration, the first section, will be I think next week, Monday, Tuesday, that A0, which will solve many things related to traffic including in Bucharest,” he said.

According to the former minister, by the end of 2025, the highway will be open from Craiova to Constanta and from Bucharest to Adjud.

„By the end of the year, traffic will be available from Craiova to Constan?a, which is an important thing, from Bucharest to Adjud, and even on a few sections after Bacau, I hope – in fact, I am convinced, not just hoping – and there will be a lot of progress on other highway lots that are currently under construction. (…) I took over the ministry with a budget of 14 billion lei annually and now we are talking about a budget of almost 43 billion, so 300%,” Grindeanu emphasized.

He emphasized that in the coming years, the pace of work on all of Romania’s transport infrastructure must be maintained: highways, railways, airports.

„The Romanian state, I have said this before, but I will continue to say it, the Romanian state has remained indebted to the Romanian citizen in the 30 or so years since the Revolution, at least in one area: that of infrastructure. And the Romanian state must pay from this debt. This means that in the coming years, the pace of work on highways, expressways, metro, railways, and airport modernization must be maintained. This is very important,” concluded Sorin Grindeanu.

AGERPRES