VIDEO The only highway built by the Chinese in Romania has delays. When will it be ready though and why is the batch important?
A0 Nord Lot 3 built by Chinese / Source: YouTube capture
A Chinese builder is currently building a section of the Capital's ring highway (A0). It is the first and only highway made by a Chinese builder in our country. Although it was supposed to be ready this year, Lot 3 Afumati – Pantelimon of the A0 Nord Motorway has delays. Because it will not be ready on time, there is a risk that the adjacent section, Lot 4 built by UMB, will remain a “museum” for several months – that is, it will be ready, but without being able to be used.
The Chinese builder CCECC (China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation) has been working since last spring on the 8.6 kilometers of Lot 3 of the Capital's A0 North Ring Motorway.
The section was supposed to be completed in November 2025, but the works are behind schedule.
“Even if there is an evolution of the works since the last visit to the site, the builder has below average mobilization and has not recovered from the accumulated delay”, claims the State Secretary for Transport Ionel Irinel Scrioșteanu who visited the site.
Without the Chinese batch, another completed section of A0 will remain a “museum”
Failure to complete lot 3 in 2025 could mean that the adjacent section risks remaining a “museum” if UMB completes the work by the end of the year.
The problem arises from the fact that Lot 4 has no knots at its ends. In the south, Lot 4 of the A0 North connects to the A0 South and the road junction with the A2, a segment put into traffic last year, but in the north, there is no planned road junction with the DN3. The highway is thought to connect further to Lot 3 built by the Chinese.
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“Batch 3 will not be ready this year, it will be ready only next year. The Chinese builder is behind schedule. They have not exceeded the contractual deadline, but they are behind schedule. At the rate at which they are working, batch 3 will probably be ready in the summer of next year, then batch 4, which is finished this year, will also be able to be used,” CNAIR spokesperson Alin Şerbănescu explained to HotNews in September.
“Somewhere by May-June it should finish. It can be finished by then, it's feasible. May would be optimistic, summer would be more pessimistic,” Ionuț Ciurea, director of the Pro Infrastructure Association, told HotNews.
A0 Nord – Lot 3 (DN2/Afumati – DN3/Cernica)
- Length: 8.6 km, 1 road junction with DN2
- MANUFACTURER: CCECC (China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation)
- Value: 397,996,117.63 lei without VAT
- Start: Contracted in March 16, 2023 / Design started in May 2023 / Full building permit in August 2024
- Term: 12 months design + 18 months execution
- Physical Stage (October 2025): 57%
- Completion possible: Q2-Q3 2026
MAP – Capital Ring Motorway A0 in October 2025 (green – open to traffic / red – under construction) / Source: HotNews.ro
Chinese companies, banned from infrastructure auctions in Romania / Two exceptions
Romania decided as early as 2021 to exclude Chinese companies from public tenders for infrastructure projects. However, the decision from that time could only be applied to new public procurement procedures launched after that moment.
However, there are currently two exceptions, two projects where the builders are from China.
The Chinese from Synohidro are working on the Zalău belt, who had already signed the contract in 2020, before the Government's decision. There the works are much delayed, the project has a deadline since the spring of 2023, and currently (October 2025) the physical stage is now only at 89%.
The other exception is on the A0 North highway, Lot 3, where the Chinese from the China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation are working – a contract signed in 2023 on a tender launched as early as 2019.
Apart from these two examples, Chinese construction companies are no longer involved in other projects in Romania and could no longer enter tenders launched after 2021.
