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$Unique_ID{bob00449}
$Pretitle{}
$Title{Romania
Chapter 3. Infrastructure}
$Subtitle{}
$Author{Donald E. deKieffer}
$Affiliation{Embassy of Romania, Washington DC}
$Subject{million
romania
romanian
country
air
major
service
telephone
transport
see
tables
}
$Date{1990}
$Log{See Table 1.*0044901.tab
See Table 2.*0044902.tab
}
Title: Romania
Book: Doing Business with the New Romania
Author: Donald E. deKieffer
Affiliation: Embassy of Romania, Washington DC
Date: 1990
Chapter 3. Infrastructure
For years, Romania diverted massive sums of money to huge projects such
as the Danube Canal and the "rebuilding" of central Bucharest. As a result,
the infrastructure of the country, especially transportation and
communications, languished. Although maintained at minimal levels, the
facilities available were - and remain - inadequate.
SHIPPING
River transportation is important in Romania as the Danube crisscrosses
the country for 1,075 kilometers. Romania also has 234 kilometers of coastline
on the Black Sea. In 1989, 37.4 million metric tons of merchandise were
transported by river and 35.9 million tons of merchandise by sea.
Inland water transport was enhanced with the completion of the
Danube-Black Sea canal between Cernavoda and Constantza in 1983.
Ports
Romania, like the Netherlands, serves as a major entrepot trade port for
most of Eastern and Central Europe. Lying at the delta of one of the major
rivers of Europe, Romanian ports serve Yugoslavia, Hungary, Austria,
Czechoslovakia and even parts of Switzerland.
[See Table 1.: Major Romanian Ports]
AIR TRANSPORT
Air transport is handled by two companies: TAROM (Transportul Aerian
Romane) and LAR (Liniile Aeriene Romene).
There are 16 airports for domestic air traffic. Romanian companies also
operate 36 overseas routes. Three international airports (Bucharest,
Constantza and Timisoara) provide flight services for foreign air carriers
Romanian is well connected with other major points in Europe and
overseas.
Airlines maintaining regularly scheduled service include: Aeroflot, Air
France, Alitalia, AUA, British Airways, CSA, El Al, Interflug, JAT, KLM, LOT,
Lufthansa, Malev, Pan American, Sabena, SAS, SwissAir, and Tapso.
ROAD AND RAIL
Rail network
In 1980, Romanian railways stretched 11,343 km, of which one-way lines
constituted 70 percent. The rail system is extensive for a country its size
and reaches all major population centers.
Romanian railways provide the main transportation for both goods and
passengers in the country. The national rail network focuses on such large
industrial centers as Brasov, Cluj, Arad, and Ploiesti, although the rugged
terrain of much of the country also influences routes. In recent decades,
diesel and electric engines have been placed in service, and 32 percent of
the total lines have been electrified.
As noted above, however, the low level of maintenance of the Romanian
railroads has made them undependable by Western standards. Much of the
rolling stock is out of service at any given time, and almost a quarter of
the locomotives have served well beyond their expected service life.
Road transport
By 1989, the total length of public roads in Romania was 72,816 km. Of
this, 34,893 km were paved. In 1989, Romania had about, 1,450,000 passenger
cars and 300,000 commercial vehicles.
Romania's road are a national embarrassment. Although their design is
adequate, they have been so poorly maintained over twenty years that they
are often little more than a patchwork of repairs. Almost two-thirds of all
Romania's paved roads had exceeded their service life by the end of 1989.
Further, expressways account for only 113 km of the total highway system. The
deteriorated state of the roads, and the lack of high-speed expressways, often
makes road transport difficult in the best of times, and sometimes impossible
during winter. This factor has held back Romania's economic development, and
is one of the top priorities of the new government.
COMMUNICATIONS
In 1989, Romania's 4,596 post offices handled 374 million letters, 1,424
million newspapers and periodicals, 11.6 million parcels, 45.4 million surface
and air mail deliveries and 4.7 million cables. In the same year, there were
2.3 million telephone subscribers in 387 localities. Over two hundred cities
were connected to the inter-city autonomous telephone exchange.
Local telephone service is fairly automatic and dependable. International
telephone and telegraph connections are generally good but delays may occur
when placing calls.
While the visiting business executive may have access to telephones, the
majority of Romanians do not. There are only about two million telephone lines
in the entire country, including about 500 international lines. These have
long since reached saturation. During the latter years of the Communist
regime, this sector was also ignored. As a result, the technical capacity of
the Romanian telecommunications system has lagged behind international
standards. One of the first acts of the new government was to open bidding to
Western telecommunications companies to improve the network. It will require
billions of dollars and at least five years before the telephone and data
transmission systems are adequate for a country the size of Romania.
ENERGY
One of the greatest problems facing Romania in the aftermath of World
War II was the backwardness of the national electric power industry. Major
plans spanning 1951-1960, supplemented by two later plans, have resulted in
a substantial rise in power output.
Projects
Foundations for this progress were a series of gigantic power projects,
each of which has a 100 megawatt or more capacity.
The most important projects have been those of Mintia, Ludus, Craiova,
Singeorgiu de Padure, Bicaz on the Bistrita River, the Arges station and the
enormous Iron Gate project on the Danube River (a joint Romanian-Yugoslav
project).
[See Table 2.: Power Generation (Million Kilowatts)]