​The website and phone software that will allow visualization of data on the territorial distribution of bicycle routes (national, regional, district and local level) and bicycle paths existing in the territory of Romania must be created no later than September 26, 2022.

The information appeared in the procurement procedure recently launched by the Ministry of Development, and this is one of them 24 milestones with PNRR which should be completed by the end of this month.

3,000 km of cycling routes have funding of 247.5 million euros in the PNRR

In the National Recovery and Resilience Plan, Romania envisages the implementation of 3,000 km of cycling routes at the national level with an allocated budget of 247.5 million euros.

The main responsible is the Ministry of Development headed by Attila Cheke, which in this quarter is obliged to complete 2 stages in this direction:

• Milestone No. 340: Comprehensive study of the territorial distribution of national bicycle routes;
• Milestone #341: Integrated national eVelo platform and smartphone app.

When asked by HotNews.ro to clarify the status of the implementation of these stages, the Ministry of Development replied that “both are being implemented, included in the indicative calendar for achieving the stages/goals, according to the provided deadlines (.. )”.

Which companies and for what money will do research, a site and an application for phones

The Ministry specified which procurement procedures it launched and which companies won the procedures.

“Procedures related to the purchase of services for the development of Research on the creation, identification and territorial distribution of bicycle routes at the national level and the purchase of services for the development of the eVelo Platform began on 25.07.2022, respectively on 26.07. .2022 and republished on August 5, 2022 due to the absence of participants.

Contracts for the provision of services were signed:

• 1) 09.08.2022 with a business entity SC EDG CONSULT SRL in the amount of 128,760 lei (without VAT) for research development; clarify that there were two applicants, the criterion for concluding the contract is “the lowest price”;
• 2) 18.08.2022 with a business entity SC EVENTYA CO SRL in the amount of 117,500 lei (without VAT) to develop a national eVelo platform that includes a website dedicated to CNCV and a digital smartphone app.

The amount allocated through PNRR – Component 11 for the development of Research and the eVelo Platform is 1.5 million euros, with the indication that both providers fulfill their obligations according to the contractual provisions,” reads the Ministry’s response.

• SEE MDLPA ANSWERS HERE

The eVelo platform should be ready by September 26. What services should it contain

In the specifications Regarding the implementation of the national eVelo platform, it is said that it will contain the website of the National Center for Bicycle Coordination (CNCV) and a software application for phones, which will allow visualization of data on the territorial distribution of bicycle routes (at the national, regional, county and local levels) and existing bicycle paths on the territory of Romania.

The winning company must provide, both on the website and in the mobile application, an interactive map containing cycle routes and cycle paths (provided by the Authority, supported by GIS), overlaid on a map such as Google Maps/Hybrid, Bing OpenStreetMap, Strava or similar.

This map will contain the following information (provided by the contracting organization, about GIS support and information from the Google Maps support map or similar):

• the current state of bicycle routes and bicycle paths in Romania;
• the proposed situation in the framework of the Study on the identification, creation and distribution of cycle routes at the national level, in which 4500 km will be identified as eligible for PNRR funding, and the cycle routes identified by the Danube Cycle Plans Study as national routes (approximately 9000 km, of which approximately 1500 km coincide with routes that meet the requirements through the PNRR – EuroVelo 6 and EuroVelo 13 routes);
• tourist attractions identified in the competition of projects from Component 11 – Tourism and Culture of the PNRR “12 Cultural Routes” (this information will be available to the Contracting Authority in the format of GIS and Google Earth/Maps);
• a pilot project, which is a segment of approximately 50 km of cycling routes eligible for funding from the PNRR or an existing cycling route, so that when the visitor moves the cursor on this segment, information is displayed on the type of infrastructure, the theme of the route, respectively, the main tourist attractions from the support of Google Maps.

In addition, the firm that won the contract must train ministry staff on how to use the website and phone app, create a data entry guide for bike routes similar to the pilot project, and provide maintenance and help desk support by Dec. 31. , 2026.

Photo source: Inge Hogenbijl | Dreamstime.com