In a commune with 166 inhabitants, without water, the mayor commutes with an 800,000 dollar helicopter. The population doubles in election years

In the commune of Brebu Nou in Caraș-Severin, one of the smallest towns in Romania, the administrative reality seems detached from an absurd scenario: while people live without drinking water and without functional sewage, the mayor commutes by helicopter, landing on improvised runways, according to Context.ro. During election years, the commune's population almost doubles, and the projects financed by public money remain, for the most part, only on paper.

The town has 166 inhabitants. PHOTO Cristian Franț

On August 26, 2025, at noon, a blue helicopter flew over Gărâna (one of the villages of the commune). After a few minutes, the aircraft landed in the yard of the house of the chief mayor, Gabriel Bordea, in a space marked only with a white-orange cone, far from the standards of an authorized heliport.

The mayor, caught by reporters just as he landed, refused a recorded interview and insisted that no audio or video devices be used. His explanation: “he might be stuttering.”

“I'm a private pilot. I like to fly. I don't think my private time is related to the work of the institution”Bordea testified at the time, in his second term.

The mayor says that flights are a personal passion.

The Robinson R44 Raven II helicopter, valued at approximately $800,000, is registered in Austria under the name of Agil Group SRL, owned by the mayor and his father.

Unauthorized landings in the absence of a legal helipad

The Romanian Civil Aviation Authority confirms that the land in the mayor's yard is not approved for the mayor's helicopter operations.

“You can't land anywhere you want. There are strict rules,” explains the AACR spokesperson.

The flight analysis shows frequent flights between Timisoara and Gărâna, but also to cities in Hungary and Austria. However, there is no authorized heliport in the Caraș-Severin – Timiș area.

The population of the commune doubles when there are elections

According to the 2021 census, the Brebu Nou commune has 166 inhabitants. However, in the local elections of 2024, 339 votes were cast, of which 191 were for Bordea.

In the first months of the same electoral year, 157 people settled temporarily in the commune.

Expert Forum observers signaled group votes, with provisional ballots, by unknown people in the locality. No fewer than 177 voters were registered on additional lists, more than those on the permanent lists.

The phenomenon is not new: in 2020, 156 people obtained floating visas in Brebu Nou, and in 2012 former mayor Karl Rank complained about the same situation.

“I also had 30 floats on a house. After the elections, they disappear“, a local summed up the situation:

Five floating in a house

Victor Vlad, a resident of Brebu Nou, received by mail a report issued in the name of an unknown person and thus discovered that five people had floating visas at his address, without his knowledge.

All visas were issued between 23–27 May 2024, just days before the election.

The Population Record explained that the residences were established on the basis of a loan agreement signed by a neighbor, but at the wrong address. The town hall had changed the names of the streets and the numbering of the houses, without informing the residents.

Infrastructure projects: millions of lei, minimal results

Although on paper the commune appears with important investments, the reality is that the drinking water network does not work, the sewage system is built but not used, the sewage treatment plant is abandoned in the vegetation.

Investments of over 5.7 million lei in the drinking water network, but people use installations from the 70s

The mayor admits that the old network, built with improvised pipes, is still in use. The new system, financed by PNDL, is not put into use.

“We cannot guarantee that the water is drinkable“, says Bordea.

Another project, worth more than 1.1 million euros, started in 2010, was never put into operation. Through the “Anghel Saligny” program, more than 10.7 million lei were contracted for a new network, but by 2025 not a single lei had been settled.

“The network is built, but no one has connected to it”, explained the mayor

The water treatment plant is currently overgrown with weeds.