The Ministry of Transport is preparing to withdraw one of the two metro investment projects from the PNRR.
According to the Minister of Transport “This project financed by the PNRR on the M4 seems to be the furthest from realization. I am pessimistic about this project and its completion by the end of the PNRR funding period.”
After more than €1 billion of metro investment was withdrawn from the PNRR in 2021, it was announced in 2022 that one of the two projects would be abandoned, namely the M4 Bucharest Section 1: North Station – Filaret.
HISTORY OF THE METRO IN THE PNRR
In the first version of the PNRR (December 2020), the metro was allocated 1.58 billion euros for investments in infrastructure and rolling stock.
According to Annex 2 – List of investments proposed for funding for sustainable transport, in the 2020 version of the PNRR, the expanded list of metro investments included four projects:
- M4: North Station – Progress.
- M6: May 1 – Otopeni.
- M1 Cluj-Napoca.
- Purchase of rolling stock of the Bucharest metro.
Practically in the first version of the PNRR, developed before the publication and entry into force of EU Regulation no. 241/12.02.2021 Romania proposed to allocate 1.08 billion euros for metro infrastructure investments and 0.5 billion euros for rolling stock related to the Bucharest metro.
Versions of the 2021 PNRR submitted for public comment by the Ministry of Investment and European Projects (MIPE) in March and April did not contain any specific information related to investment, allocations or monitoring indicators, stating only “construction of new metro lines in the region of Bucharest – Ilfov and Cluj”.
In the final version of the PNRR, submitted to the European Commission in May 2021 and published by MIPE, the cost of metro investments has been reduced by around €1 billion to €0.6 billion.
In Annex 7 – List of Proposed Backup Projects, in the final version of the PNRR (May 2021), metro was the only investment under Component 4 – Sustainable Transport that does not have a backup project.
Road infrastructure will benefit from 27 reserve projects, and railways will benefit from 5 reserve projects.
RISKS OF ELIMINATING THE BUCHAREST METRO WITH THE PNRR
One of the investments related to the reforms in component I – Green transition, component C4 – Sustainable transport is represented by I4 – Development of the metro transport network in the cities of Bucharest and Cluj-Napoca.
In addition, the PNRR’s Do Not Significantly Harm (DNSH) analysis states that the Gara de Nord – Filaret section is the option selected for funding following an analysis of alternatives “has the best environmental rating and the lowest design and implementation risk.”
In addition, the inclusion of section 1 of the M4 Bucharest motorway in the PNRR is justified by offering an environmentally efficient alternative to road traffic, the overall efficiency of public transport and a significant reduction of CO2 emissions in the urban transport sector.
The exclusion of Bucharest Metro from PNRR-funded investments will have implications for sustainable transport, for outcome measures, for how urban public transport emissions reductions in Bucharest have been designed, and for I4 investments in PNRR, which also explicitly development of the metro transport network in Bucharest.
The idea of withdrawing the M4 line of the Bucharest metro from the PNRR is a hasty one, considering that the signing of contracts for 50% of the works is scheduled for the 4th quarter of 2022, and the completion of all the works contracts for investments in the metro is scheduled for the 4th quarter of 2023 (according to the document “Milestones, targets, indicators, monitoring and implementation calendar” related to sustainable transport with PNRR).
A major failure of the Ministry of Transport during the implementation of the PNRR is that it failed to correct errors during the programming phase.
And if he decides to abandon the financing of the Gara de Nord – Filaret M4 section, it would be useful to replace it with another branch of the metro (or part of the works from another line).
After the Ministry of Transport decided in 2021 to cancel the construction of Lot 2 of the M6 highway between Tokyo Station – Baneas Commercial Zone and Otopeni Airport (a decision it reversed in late 2021), in 2022 the same ministry announces the elimination of the M4 highway from the PNRR . Read the whole article and comment on Contributors.ro
Source: Hot News RU
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