The authorities have once again taken the first step towards the process for the sale of National Railroad Freight Company - they have posted on the website of the Ministry of Transports the Strategy for its Privatization, a draft which will be up for debate until the deadline of February 10th, 2013.

However, this is not the first time that the Ministry of Transports publishes a strategy for the privatization of "CFR Marfă". For about ten years, all the governments have announced almost every year, that "CFR Marfă" would be privatized, putting up for debate various strategies for its sale. So far, no call for tenders was held for the sale of the railroad operator, as its privatization was postponed every time, for various reasons.

The latest announcement by which the Ministry of Transports would postpone the sale of the majority stake in "CFR Marfă" was made last year in October, claiming the lack of the approval from the Romanian Supreme Council of Defense (CSAT).

Transports minister Relu Fenechiu recently said that "CFR Marfă" will no longer be privatized, but just a few days later, after talking to the representatives of the IMF, he changed his mind and announced that the sale of the company was actually the "top priority", saying that the state would assign 51% of the company's shares and that in a few years it intends to sell the remaining 49% of the shares, thus "bringing the state a considerable gain".

The main objective of the strategy for the privatization of "CFR Marfă" is "maximizing the price which can be obtained in exchange for the block of shares owned by the state" in the company, the draft posted on the website of the Ministry of Transports said.

This shows that the starting price for the call for bids is set by the Ministry of Transports, based on the appraisal report of "CFR Marfă". The collateral for participat