On Thursday, the PSD-PNL coalition will hold the first meeting with the Minister of Finance on the topic of the 2024 budget, and the government will adopt a memorandum on the topic of priority public investments for the next year, a document that will form the basis of the preparation of the 2024 budget, the Prime Minister announced on Thursday – Minister Marcel Cholaku.

• “Today will be the first meeting of the Coalition together with the Minister of Finance on the topic of the budget for 2024. I want us to maintain this year’s pace for major projects and even exceed it.
• We have examples of good practice in several ministries, mainly in the Ministry of Transport, and I want to build this budget on projects,” said Marcel Čolaku on Thursday at the beginning of the government meeting.

Top ministries with the largest number of investment projects for 2024

According to the Memorandum, during the prioritization process, 9 chief credit inspectors submitted information on 221 significant state investment projects with a total updated cost of 319,783,446 thousand lei and the balance to be financed for their completion, 208,338,195 thousand lei.

Budget credits allocated for these projects in 2023 amount to 17,425,790 thousand lei.

• VIEW THE MEMORANDUM HERE

In terms of the total present value of major public investment projects, the Ministry of Transport and Infrastructure has the highest share, followed by the Ministry of Health.

Ministry of Transport and Infrastructure ranks first with the number of 108 significant state investment projects at various stages of implementation, with a total discounted value of 251,591,859 thousand lei and a balance to be financed before completion of 180,356,985 thousand lei.

In addition, 60 projects have completed the works, the balance will be financed in the amount of 5,605,861 thousand lei, the amount needed to pay civil judgments, costs related to the DAB procedure, arbitration awards, final certificates, legal assistance, security audits movements, legal processes, expropriations, etc. Budget allocations in 2023 related to these projects amount to 405,613 thousand lei.

Ministry of Environment, Water Resources and Forests manages a number of 13 projects at various stages of implementation with a total updated cost of 7,198,671 thousand lei and the remaining financing until their completion of 4,845,273 thousand lei.

Budget allocations related to these projects in 2023 amount to 430,042 thousand lei. The project “Hydrotechnical Developments in the Niraj River Basin, Mures County” is completed (100% physically) but not financially closed as payments are required to fulfill the legal aid contract for land expropriation.

Ministry of Development, Public Works and Administration manages a number of 21 projects with a total updated cost of 5,026,174,000 lei and a balance of financing until their completion of 4,297,306,000 lei, of which 10 projects are new and 11 projects are in the implementation stage. Budget allocations related to these projects in 2023 amount to 526,065 thousand lei.

Ministry of Health manages a number of 9 significant projects with a total present value of 9,927,395 thousand lei and a remaining financing until their completion of 9,398,195 thousand lei, of which 8 projects are ongoing and 1 new project.

Budget allocations related to these projects in 2023 amount to 412,360,000 lei.

Department of Justice manages a number of 2 significant projects with a total discounted value of 1,175,463 thousand lei and a balance of funds to be financed before their completion of 1,166,006 thousand lei. Budget allocations related to them in 2023 amount to 6,316,000 lei.

Ministry of National Defense manages a number of 3 significant projects under implementation with a total discounted value of 508,215,000 lei and the remaining financing until their completion in 426,180,000 lei. .

Ministry of Research, Innovation and Digitalization manages 2 significant projects, one of which has been completed, and payments will be made in 2023 related to salaries, financial audits and coexistence studies.

Protection and security service and Ministry of Internal Affairs each of them carries out a significant state investment project.

Of the 221 projects that will be funded on a priority basis, 62 are projects whose implementation work is complete (100% physical stage) but not financially closed due to the payment of civil judgments, DAB costs, arbitration awards are required , certificates. finals, legal aid, road safety audit, legal proceedings, expropriations, etc., presented separately inAppendix 2 to the memorandum.

Allocated amounts will be available at the time of judgments/final decisions/completion of expropriation cases.

After repayment of the payment obligations, the chief credit inspectors will take the necessary measures according to the law for their financial closure in order to relieve the fiscal space.

In Appendix 1 the memorandum presents 159 significant state investment projects, of which 28 are new projects, and 131 projects are still at various stages of implementation.

Their total updated cost is 279,478,004 thousand lei, the rest must be financed to complete 202,629,543 thousand lei of budget loans allocated in 2023 in the amount of 16,997,253 thousand lei.