"Conditions of contract documents for tenders have very strict criteria, barring Romanian companies from winning major contracts," says Emil Timofti, general manager of Hidroconstructia, Romania's biggest construction company.
All the important deals on the construction market, the major public contracts worth hundreds of million euros, have, for a number of years been awarded to foreign companies, while Romanian firms, irrespective of their size, do not have access to contractor position in the contracts mentioned above.
Foreign players also prevail on the private projects market, which is why international firms operating in this field are able to profit from the high growth rate of the construction market, which is now driving the entire economy.
In the case of major public projects, conditions of contract specify firms taking part in tenders are required to have previously carried out similar work.
"Domestic construction companies need to seal partnerships with their foreign counterparts in order to become them stronger and get major infrastructure contracts," considers Timofti.
According to the Hidroconstructia representative, this solution was embraced by Hungarian firms, which initially set up joint ventures with foreign firms and then teamed up with one another.
Hidroconstructia representatives say that work carried out as a subcontractor is not taken into account in tenders.
In the highway construction business estimated at 7 billion euros in total, Hidroconstructia was the subcontractor of the US-owned Bechtel Corp., the general contractor of Brasov-Bors highway, an over 2.4 billion euro project.
One year ago, the Ardeal branch of the Hidroconstructia group, which specialises in hydropower, estimated it had lost about 2.5 million euros following the cancellation of the three contracts it had with Bechtel for t
