VIDEO Highway of the Capital Belt: The stage of the remaining lots / EC can be opened in 2025 and what the Chinese do on the only highway they execute in Romania

Three lots are still in execution from A0, the new chin highway surrounding the capital. With terms of completion in 2026 for two lots, some pieces could be ready this year, including from the only section of highway in the country executed by a Chinese company. “It demonstrates an execution rate,” however, appreciates independent experts.

After the inauguration of the last lot on the South A0, a traffic opening that finally allows the capital from the east to the west only on the highway, the attention moves to the northern sector.

The nearly 50 km divided into four lots – lot 3 of 19 km has been completed since 2023, and the other three are in various stages of implementation.

Lot 1, the chance of a partial opening before the term

Lot 1 (18 km), which will unite the A0 from DN1 Corbeanca area to the continuation to A1, is built by an association of Italian and Romanian builders.

“Pizzarotti and Retter have recovered well and the current mobilization gives us hope that by the end of next year we will be able to travel all 17.5 kilometers between Bâcu (DJ601A) and Corbeanca (DN1). Interesting is that Retter, Romanian company, became the first violin in the association with much more titled Pizzarotti, And the viaducts on the lot, including those on the Italian section ”, details the Pro Infrastructure Association, one of the most active civic organizations that monitor the implementation of the big infrastructure projects in Romania.

“Currently, utility networks are the most thorny problem that blocks the start of structures, such as the passage over DN1A. This is also the critical point on which a possible partial opening depends, towards the end of spring 2026 in the optimistic scenario, of the section between Corbeanca and Mogoșoaia/Buftea. Move utility networks, ”notes.

Lot 1 of North A0 (DJ601 – Corbeanca/DN1)

• Length: 17.5 km
• Value: 815 million lei
• MANUFACTURER: Association Impresa Pizzarotti – Retter Management
• Signed contract: October 2023
• Works started: October 2024 (partially) / March 2025 (complete)
• Completion Term: 22 months execution
• Possible completion: T4 2026 / T2 2026 (partially between DN1 and DN1A)

Lot 3, the only highway built by Chinese in Romania

A0 North, Lot 3 (Afumați – Pantelimon), in length of 8.6 km, is the first and only highway in the country made by the Chinese, the contract with the Chinese CCCC manufacturer being signed in March 2023 for about 400 million lei. The updated completion deadline is February 2026.

“Strictly from a technical point of view, a serious entrepreneur properly mobilized could open this year Lot 3 of the North A0 highway, an 8.6 kilometers in the plains with a single road node and only two more large structures,” says Pro Infrastructure.

“But those at China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation (CCEC) demonstrate a summer execution rate, not far enough to be ready in 2025. The spring of 2026 would be an optimistic term for the inauguration of the highway (…) Hard to believe that there will be a miracle in 2025 without the contractual pressure, without any administrative pressure and without any perspective. For Chinese companies that can no longer participate in the auctions in Romania ”, appreciates API.

A0 North – Lot 3 (DN2/Afumați – DN3/Cernica)

• Length: 8.6 km, 1 road knot with DN2
• MANUFACTURER: CCECC (China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation)
• Value: 397.996.117.63 lei without VAT
• Stage: Contracted (March 16, 2023) / Design started in May 2023 / Integral Building Authorization in August 2024
• Term: 12 months design + 18 months execution
• Possible completion: T1-T2 2026

Lot 4 – PLUM can complete in 2025, but the section risks remaining “museum”

The end of autumn 2025 on A0 between Cernica and Pantelimon could mean either an inauguration or “a beautiful museum”.

“After the evolution of this year's evolution and at what mobilization we still have at the bridge over Lake Cernica, it is obvious that PLAT wants to escape as quickly as possible from the 4.47 kilometers of the North A0 Highway between Cernica and Pantelimon to move people specialized on structures on the A7 motorway, where there are big delays and the PNR is completed in August 2026.

“Even if the PLUM can finish the mini-place between A2 and DN3 in November 2025, it will be a museum, meaning it will not be used if CNAIR officials do not solve the provisional connection with DN3. This is because the neighboring section built by the Chinese from CCECC is not ready in 2025,” says the association.

The contract with the RUM was signed on 31.08.2020. The first building permit was issued in April 2023 and the second, the most important, only in April 2024 which requires execution in 18 months, so completion: October 2025.

A0 Nord Lot 4

• Length: 4.47 km
• Value: 312 million lei
• MANUFACTURER: Pound
• Signed contract: 31.08.2020 (term: 12 months design, 18 months execution)
• Start order: 20.04.2023 (Construction permits were partially issued, later, last coming in April 2024)
• CONTRACTIAL TIME OFFY: T4 2025
• Stage (July 2025): 44%