Bolojan about the place where the state “put 240 million dollars and we will be left with a land and some papers”
Invited to HotNews, Ilie Bolojan spoke about the “robbing of the citizens' budget”. And he chose, right at the end of the discussion, to give the example of the project with the nuclear mini-power plants from Doicești, where a quarter of a billion euros was spent for associations and feasibility studies.
In his public intervention on HotNews, on Friday, Ilie Bolojan did not mention the names of countries or private companies, but said that the state institution Nuclearelectrica spent 240 million dollars in Doicești.
“American Investment”
Doicesti is an “American investment”, as it was initially presented. The project was started in 2022, during the mandate of the PNL Minister of Energy Virgil Popescu and continued by Sebastian Burduja. The argument for building the mini-reactors was the energy security of the country.
In reality, a Romanian firm brokered what turned into the largest paper investment in Romania's recent history. The project involved the construction of six nuclear reactors of 77 MW each in Doicești (Dâmbovița), on land purchased in 2021 by the private company Nova Power and Gas. He bought it for five million euros and sold it to the project company, of which the state is also a part, for over 40 million euros, Nuclearelectrica sources told HotNews.
Nova Power and Gas represents in Romania an American mini-reactor company.
Nurse “black hole”
It is not the first time that Ilie Bolojan expresses himself in relation to the project from Doicești. Now, however, the prime minister dismissed by motion of censure has explicitly classified him as “black holes”.
On HotNews on Friday, Bolojan also discussed his own mistakes. For example, about how, because of what he called “the speed and strain of government,” he overtaxed very old buildings. And it came back. Or when it required certain categories of income to also be reported in the electronic system. He said he would ask ANAF if this was really needed.
On the other hand, he insisted that his act of government was necessary. And energy figured as an example.
“There are several areas of the Romanian state that, if they are managed well, this is strongly visible in the lives of the citizens. If they are badly managed, this means that things are not visible. One is the energy area. When you block access to the energy networks, then you are in a situation where you are basically allowing some to speculate, to make money, instead of reducing energy prices for all citizens.”
“Let me give you an example. One of the projects that was talked about in these years was SMR from Doicești. Do you know how much Nuclearelectrica consumed? 240 million dollars. We will be left with a piece of land and some papers. Is it worth it? Instead of making investments head on and clearly negotiating the contracts to invest in nuclear,” concluded Bolojan.
