Land Prices on Steep Climb in Cluj County

The Brasov-Bors highway to be built in Transylvania is sending land prices in county Cluj on a steep hike, reports BBC. The people whose land will stay under the highway are already waiting for the money promised by the Executive in exchange for the expropriation.

The work will start close to Campia Turzii city, and not at Savadsila, where authorities officially opened the construction site some one month ago, representatives of the Bechtel [American contractor building the highway] said.
Land for the first 22 kilometers would have to be expropriated, according to BBC. This makes a total of 130 hectares of land belonging to some 500 different owners.

In Cluj country the highway will stretch over 84 kilometers and the Bechtel lawyers negotiate the prices for paying the land with some 4,200 land owners.
The minimum set price for the square meter will be two euros, said Petru Gus, representative of a company that evaluated the patches of land and also a county councilor.

This mean that one hectare of land will fare at least 20,000 euros. Prior to the highway project in the region, the land price was set at between 150 and 300 euros per hectare.
So far the maximum price to be paid for the land is not yet known, as the patches of land are categorized into several categories.
Also unknown is the set date for paying the land or starting the work.

The starting date for work was in June, but that was postponed because Bechtel thought the workers were not yet fully trained. The American company hired 150 workers who only now learn to operate the machinery brought in by the Americans.

The final cost of the Brasov-Bors highway to be built by Bechtel will reach 4.3 billon euros. The 415-kilometer long road is scheduled to be ready in 2012. European officials criticized the contract signed by the Romanian Executive with Bechtel because it precluded open bidding. Currently 200 kilometers of highway are being built in Romania, and financial deals to pay for another 544 kilometers of highway are being negotiated.