On Wednesday, at 1:00 PM, traffic was opened on the Zalău Beltway, a 5.35 km bypass that should have been completed more than three years ago. The contract, worth 185.5 million lei (excluding VAT), was carried out by the association SINOHYDRO CORPORATION - GOOD PROD SRL, being the first new road in Romania built with a contractor from China. Although the works began in April 2021 and the completion deadline was March 2023, the project was affected by significant delays due to the contractor's poor mobilization, landslides, and bureaucratic delays.
The Ministry of Transport and CNAIR did not exert pressure to adhere to the schedule. In 2021, Romania adopted a law that excludes Chinese companies from public tenders, but this was not applied retroactively. In 2023, the Romanian partner in the association reported a turnover of only 2,500 lei and a loss of over 133,000 lei.