Tenders are currently being assessed by Maramures County Council (MCC) for the construction of a 4.3km long road tunnel under the Gutâi mountain in Romania.
The tunnel has been designed to shorten the journey between Baia-Mare and Sighetu Marmatiei, and to improve safety for road traffic, especially haulage. Traffic currently travels a treacherous route along the DN18 state highway, over the Gutâi mountain, 20km of which is made up of a dangerous winding road with steep inclines.
The geological investigation and feasibility study for the route should be completed by February 2003 by the consultant Cuart. The pre-feasibility study priced the cost of tunnelling at about US$170M. Ten percent of this will be financed by the MCC, with the other 90% financed by the successful investor with a public private partnership being the model used to finance and build the tunnel.
As T&TI went to press, the project had no established financial backing, but two foreign investors are believed to be interested – one Italian and one Turkish.
The tunnel will also link Baia-Mare to the new commercial route to Ukraine, over the Tisa river. The tunnel project is the second part of a trans-border improvement scheme. The first and main project was the reconstruction of a historic bridge over the river Tisa, which will soon open to commercial traffic, and improve access to the Trans-European network, by linking together road corridors IV and V.
The tunnel project should help boost the tourism development in the region, relaunch the economic relationship with Ukraine and lead to the re-employment of many of the region’s miners.
