The electoral campaign gives reason to journalists to analyze, beyond the statements made by candidates, the true situation in Bucharest. Which is far from pink as it is and prepares to get even worse, since the City Hall approved, in its last few days of Democrat-Liberal ruling, the construction of five new towers. The rest of the news is as usual - poverty, embezzlement, businesses and struggle for well-being.
In a wide analysis, Evenimentul Zilei counts the main problems the capital city faces these days. And there is a lot to count. The traffic from North to South during the rush hour became a fantasy. The average speed is 5 kilometers per hour. As a result, the time for response from emergency services increased significantly: in 2007, 2,000 people died while waiting for an ambulance.
The time and the fuel spent to drive in Bucharest makes the business environment suffer. Even the Bucharest Mayor, Adriean Videanu, admitted that potential investors started to reconsider their development in Bucharest.
Some say that the traffic is a problem because the number of cars increased ten times in the past 18 years. Still, 80% of the traffic takes place on the main 400 streets and boulevards, while a strategy of one way streets could have forced the cars to use all 5,000 streets. The lack of parking places, the aberrant construction permits, the poor conditions in the public transportation system - all are major issues without a plausible solution in the near future.
Meanwhile, Gandul notes that mayor Videanu made a good-bye gift to his friends, allowing some "close" companies to build five new towers in Bucharest, 30-storey tall, all very close to the center of the city.
Far from Bucharest, near Cluj, Nokia managed to produce already 1,000,000 mobile phones in its factory in Jucu. Most of the phones were the 1200 version an