Deputy PM announces ambitious PPP strategic projects: motorways, Railway Company hospitals, high-capacity medical cener

Deputy PM Viorel Stefan presented Tuesday evening the strategic projects to be initiated within short under the new legislation on the public-private partnership (PPP), specifically three motorways, the Railway Company's hospital network and the "Carol Davila" medical center that includes the planned Republican Hospital. 

"This year investments will be the major focus of governing. We plan to support investment by engaging resources and encouraging the business milieu without putting pressure on the state budget. For this reason we recently adopted the government emergency ordinance amending the PPP Law, so that today we are able to announce the list with the first strategic projects that will be soon kicked off under the new relevant legislation," Viorel Stefan said at the Victoria Palace of Government. 

The Deputy PM said that one of the projects is represented by the 100-km Tg. Neamt - Iasi - Ungheni motorway that will include a bridge across the Prut river. The project will connect Moldova to the European transport network, he explained. 

Another project is the Ploiesti - Rasnov motorway. "We have no doubt that the potential private partners will be keen on investing alongside the state in this motorway that will probably be among Romania's busiest," Viorel Stefan remarked. 

The third project is the 550-km Southern Motorway "which is important to a lot of investors who have already placed resources in this area, in Craiova in the first place, but in neighboring areas as well," argued Viorel Stefan. 

Another project in the list is the "Operation of the Railway Company's hospital network under public-private partnership." 

"There are 15 hospitals in the network run by the Transport Ministry. (...) Apart from ensuring management and the operation of the public service, the PPP will participate with funding of its own to the development, upgrading or rendering efficient of the hospitals under its management. (...) These won't be privately-owned hospitals, the money will come just as it does now from the National Health Insurance Office and the private partner will collect the amounts over a given time in exchange for medical services," Viorel Stefan said. 

The fifth strategic project of the government is the construction of the "Carol Davila" medical center "consisting mainly of the Republican Hospital (...). The compound will cover 300 hectares and will mainly include a 3,000-bed hospital building with 37 operating theatres, a Medicine Faculty and student dorms, residential and commercial space for the medical staff, parking lots, hotel for the patients' companions, other auxiliary buildings," Viorel Stefan said. 

The Deputy PM said that these five strategic projects will require an estimated 15 - 20 bln euro. 

"There will be a single substantiation report worked out by the Economic Planning Council, the bidding for the partnership will be next and the project will unfold at a much faster pace compared to the usual standard and slothful procedures. According to our estimates, all the projects can effectively start next year, with completion deadlines of five years at the most for the motorways, about three years for the Republican Hospital and seven years for the medical center," Viorel Stefan concluded.