Minister Radu Miruță demands the dismissal of Metrorex director Mariana Miclauș and sends the Control Body
The interim Minister of Transport and Infrastructure, Radu Miruţă, announced, on Wednesday, that he decided to convene the Board of Directors of Metrorex in order to terminate the mandate contract of the company's general director, Mariana Miclăus.
Minister Radu Miruță wants to dismiss the head of Metrorex, Mariana Miclauș
“If we still ended up looking inside the Metrorex network, we decided to convene the Board of Directors of Metrorex, through the General Meeting of Shareholders, for to interrupt the mandate contract of the director general for non-compliance with the financial indicators negotiated with the ministry, accepted but not achieved. That should have happened since they were noticed not being realized“, said Miruţă in a press conference.
In addition to the intention to dismiss the general director Marioana Miclauș, the minister Radu Miruță also announced that he ordered the sending of the Control Body to the Board of Directors of Metrorex to quantify exactly the value of the damage recorded by Metrorex, for the way in which the use of the company's assets by others was accepted.
At the same time, the Control Body was sent “to verify and document to be discontinued how the syndicate collects money from the use of Metrorex resources“, for which he does not pay anything to the company, and the procedures for renting commercial premises have been started, “respecting all conditions of common sense” and for a competitive procedure regarding the rental of advertising spaces.
“It is downright absurd for an entire country to pay a subsidy for Metrorex, without demonstrating that at Metrorex all measures are taken for the common sense, not to say effective, use of this money“, pointed out the interim Minister of Transport.
Just a day before, on Tuesday, the interim Minister of Transport, Radu Miruță, postponed for 60 days the application of the Order regarding the increase in the price of metro tickets, which Minister Ciprian Şerban had signed on the same day he resigned from the Ministry of Transport.
The reason for postponing the application of the metro ticket price increase from 5 to 7 lei was the lack of an impact study and an analysis of the fare threshold, respectively the elasticity of demand at the new price level
Metrorex's major problems
Metrorex's situation has been structurally unbalanced for years, and recurring tensions, including those over tariffs or management, are just symptoms of deeper problems.
The company operates with chronic losses and is heavily dependent on subsidies from the state budget to cover its running costs.
One of the most sensitive areas is that of personnel expenses. Metrorex has a high level of salary costs relative to its own revenues, and the staffing structure is often criticized as rigid and difficult to adjust. Collective labor agreements, negotiated over time with powerful unions, limit management flexibility and make it difficult to cut costs without social conflict. At the same time, public pressure increases when these costs are weighed against the quality of services or the need to increase rates.
Added to this is the issue of investment and maintenance. The metro network requires constant upgrading work, both for infrastructure and rolling stock, and delays or underfunding of these investments translate into higher costs in the long term. In the absence of consistent sources of its own funding, Metrorex depends on the public budget and external funds, which slows down processes and introduces an additional degree of uncertainty.
Another critical point is the pricing model. The ticket price does not reflect the actual cost of the service, which is a legitimate social decision, but one that puts pressure on the budget. Every time the discussion of price hikes comes up, it inevitably becomes politicized, because it directly affects millions of travelers. Thus, the company is caught between the economic need to increase its revenues and the political pressure to maintain affordable rates.
