Grab the money while you can
While the real estate market is almost standing still in Romania, waiting anxiously in the hope that financing and investment will soon start up again, there are still opportunities and money to be found in the country’s infrastructure sector, as participants at the Eurobuild CEE ‘Mission Infrastructure’ conference heard. But Romania had better make good use of the billions of euro coming its way, as there may not be much more in the future, if at all
The conference was opened by two men with great experience in European trade and diplomatic relations: the Spanish Ambassador to Romania, Estanislao de Grandes Pascual, and the trade representative of the Austrian Embassy, Walter Friedl. Both urged Romania to make all possible efforts to utilize the funding available from the European Union for infrastructure development. This may seem obvious, but it seems the message needs to be rammed home at every opportunity, as so far much of the money remains to be accessed. And everything needs to be done by the book, as José Luis Buendia, Brussels partner of international law firm Garrigues, stressed to the participants. Mr Buendia warned that there are projects in Western Europe that had received EU funding and are now faced with having to pay back some or all of the money granted because of errors in their application documents. Romania must take care not to make the same mistakes, he said. A second serious warning was sounded by another Spanish participant – also from Garrigues – Jaime Fuster Rúfilanchas, who cautioned that after 2013 there may not be any more EU money available, so it’s important to do as many projects as possible now.
The conference explored a number of other subjects, too many to mention, but all important and of concern to the participants. However, one project, presented by a young architect called Andrei Egli, caught the imagination of the audience. For a couple of years now, he and a growing band of followers have been proposing the adaptation of an existing – but dormant – railway network around Bucharest into a modern commuter train system, both to ease traffic congestion in the city, and to allow people to live further outside the city limits and to get into work more easily. Infrastructure development is about improving the quality of life of a country’s citizens and the prosperity of the nation. Such projects tick all the boxes and need to be grasped with both hands if Romania is to achieve its potential in the years ahead. (RS)
