Romair Consulting, a Romanian consulting company specialising in environmental and infrastructure projects, has budgeted a 7.2 million-euro turnover for this year, up by some 36% against last year's results of 5.3 million euros.
Romair, based in Bucharest, has offices both in Timisoara and in Brussels and acts as a representative for the local authorities at the European Union institutions. "Our Brussels headquarters have allowed us to be closer to the sources of funding for Romania. This gives us an advantage over our competitors because we are closer to those regulating the handling of these funds, therefore we have gained a great deal of experience," Gheorghe Boeru, chairman and sole shareholder of Romair told ZF.
According to Boeru, the most important attribute in this field is the employees' experience. The company currently has 128 employees and expects their number to increase to around 169 by the end of the year. In 2006, Romair invested some 310,000 euros in training its workforce and this year plans to spend a further 450,000 euros.
"You need to be very knowledgeable in order to secure a project. There are many requirements for funding and many are difficult to meet. As a result you need to have experienced people," states Boeru.
Romair's portfolio includes work in Belgrade, which involves the reconstruction of a bridge that was bombed during the conflicts a few years ago. The company is also attempting to secure another two projects abroad. The first project it has targeted is in Hungary and is valued at 26 million euros, whilst the second one is located in Odessa, Ukraine and valued at around 11 million euros. Next year the company will continue to secure and carry out projects abroad and in the Odessa area, where Romair expects to acquire another three projects.
Boeru believes that competition on the environmental infras
