The government plans to open 200 km of motorway per year during 2008-2018 to upgrade Romania's transportation system, Romania's Minister of Transports, Construction and Tourism Radu Berceanu said on Wednesday.

Currently, funding for Romania's motorways construction has primarily come from state budget or from European funds.

For the new motorways, "we also need to use funds coming from other sources, such as commercial credits and a public-private partnership system," Berceanu said in an interview published by the local daily Gandul.

The government is also considering leasing as an option to raise funds, which will allow a high level of technical maintenance of the motorway, and the lease period may be 20-25 years, Berceanu said.

Meanwhile, Romania is struggling to hasten all required procedures for motorway construction from European funds, either non-repayable ones, or credits from the European financial institutions, said Berceanu.

"By speeding up this motorway program we estimate to succeed to have more than 830 km of motorway under construction in 2008. In case we maintain these programs, we hope that in the coming ten years we will have a transport infrastructure at the level of the European one," he said.

According to Berceanu, some 10 billion euros will be needed for road construction, and for the railways, approximately 8 billion euros are needed. The money will come from non-repayable European funds, the state budget, credits or through a public-private partnership system.

Source: Xinhua