”Infrastructure investments need vision and getting involved into people’s problems solving“

We talked with Mr. Antonel Tanase, secretary of state in the Ministry, about the way authorities take chance of the foreign interest but also about local priorities for the underground.

 

RBT: Bucharest city hall showed interest in taking over the underground metro. In face of such competition, did the Ministry of Transports revive any investment projects aimed at the metro?

Antonel Tanase: There are currently many projects in progress, all involving foreign financing. Examples are the acquisition of new rolling stock, building new station on the Gara de Nord-1 Mai line, or the tunnels’ preservation on the Nicolae Grigorescu-Linia de Centura line. But the most important objective is the new line from Drumul Taberei to Pantelimon and in this case it is really a matter of investment revival.

 

RBT: Why is this project so important?

A.T.: Infrastructure investments need vision and getting involved into people’s problems solving. In this case, no one can question the vision element: the metro is the most modern urban transport mode. On the matter of solving people’s problems, this metro line is of utmost importance because it eliminates the most acute public transport nuisance in Bucharest: Drumul Taberei neighborhood has a growing transport capacity deficit. There’s a 20% deficit of buses and trolleys, while personal car traffic is also overcrowded.