Georgia without mind

Acerba competitie pentru titlul de cel mai tampit post de televiziune din Romania continua la fel de neabatuta ca intotdeauna. Azi, de dimineata, micul dar vioiul post B1 TV, a reusit sa vina tare din urma, apropiindu-se amenintator de liderii incontestabili in materie de tampenie informationala, Realitatea TV si Antena,1,2,3etc.

Deci, fiti atenti aici: e vorba despre frumoasa stirista Georgia Simionovici, se pare, fiica de fost prefect, daca numele nu e doar o coincidenta, vrand cu tot dinadinsul sa smulga, sau chiar sa zmulga, mai multe informatii despre o stire de doi lei intr-o zi trista de noiembrie fara prea multe chestii interesante.

Stirea cea mare era ca o minora de 12-14 ani (nu era clar, ba spuneau ca are 12, ba ca are 14), a intretinut relatii sexuale cu un profesor de la licerul de arta… Pulugor (nu e gluma!) Sandor din Sfantu Gheorghe.

Un politai binevoitor raspunde intrebarilor in cascada ale Georgiei, si precizeaza: Nu a fost vorba de un viol, asa cum s-a spus, eronat, pe toate posturile pana acum.

La care Georgia cea bruneta pune o intrebare blonda: Bine, nu a fost viol, dar s-a folosit de forta ca sa intretina relatii sexuale cu minora? Evident, pana si politaiul a ramas mut.

Georgico, draga, lamureste-ne si pe noi: daca te poti folosi de forta pentru a intretine relatii sexuale cu cineva, si nu e viol, atunci ce e? Sport-turism?

Pe aceeasi linie de gandire adanca rau, inseamna ca avem si violuri liber consimtite?

Si, ultima intrebare: angajarea ta la post, a fost liber consimtita?

Hai sa dam mana cu Mana!

Da, un adevarat erou.

Seful protocolului de la Senat, care s-a interpus salvator intre Majestatea Sa si grebla intinsa in mod nesimtit de Iliescu in directia Suveranului.

Salvatorul se numeste Dan Chirlomez si merita recunostinta noastra pentru ca l-a scutit pe Regele Mihai de atingerea lui GhinIon Iliescu si ne-a salvat obrazul ca natie.

Acum, avem o vorba si pentru emanat: Ilegalist batran, inca tot n-ai invatat ca Regelui nu-i intinzi TU mana?

No way, Ioane!

Regele Mihai implineste maine 90 de ani. Ar fi atat de multe de spus despre ultimul reper moral al romanilor.  Uneori, insa, respectul se manifesta cel mai bine prin tacere.

Sportul romanesc se duce de rapa.  De cand ma stiu nu am asistat la o asemenea degringolada generalizata, la o asemenea catastrofala alunecare in mediocritate si umilinta internationala. Rodul otravit a peste 20 de ani de boala a societatii romanesti, colapsul total al sportului romanesc e simptomatic pentru o comunitate care mai e natiune numai in nume, dar nu in cuget si-n simtiri.

Nu stiu daca excelenta in sport tine neaparat de caracterul genetic al unui popor — nordicii sunt mai puternici fizic, sudicii sunt mai iuti — sau de trasaturile psihice — anglo-saxonii sunt mai incapatanati, latinii sunt mai ingeniosi — dar stiu ca ea tine de respectul de sine si fata de ceilalti, de viata civilizata si ordonata si mai ales de spiritul de coeziune al unei comunitati.

Sa facem o rapida trecere in revista, pe sporturi, incepand cu cele mai recente esecuri.

Gimnastica feminina — dupa 30 de ani, Romania reuseste contraperformanta incredibila sa plece de la un campionat mondial fara nicio medalie. Dupa ce au dominat lumea intr-un mod atat de total cum rar a mai reusit vreo alta natiune sa domine gimnastica feminina, gimnastele noastre sunt tot mai putine, si tot mai neperformante. Evident, ce fata vrea sa treaca prin antrenamente dureroase si cantonamente indelungate cand, in cel mai bun caz, dupa ce se retrage cu un snop de medalii de aur, i se ofera posibilitatea sa pozeze goala prin vreo revista japoneza ca sa castige un ban. E mai simplu sa fii Monica Columbeanau, Oana Zavoranu, sau Bianca Dragusanu. Fufele o duc mult mai bine, bani, masini, tzoale de lux. Si fara vreun efort dureros, evident, in afara celor de dormitor.

Rugby-ul – unul din sporturile cele mai nobile si cele mai dure, practicat de elita internationala, si in care romanii erau respectati si admirati inca din perioada interbelica. Nationala care a batut Franta in 1990 cu 12-6 la Paris, tocmai a pierdut de o maniera uimitor de umilitoare toate meciurile din grupa de la Cupa Mondiala la rugby, inclusiv — la scor — cel cu amarata Gruzie, o echipa pe care-o bateam cu spatele, cum se zice. Iar Franta, o sa joace finala saptamana viitoare. Echipa Romaniei, care cocheta la un moment dat, la sfarsitul anilor 70, cu posibilitatea de a fi invitata sa ia parte la Turneul celor cinci natiuni (in cele din urma a fost invitata Italia, care ne-a depasit net in ultimii 20 de ani), se zvarcoleste acum in mlastinile clasamentelor internationale. Ca om care provine dintr-o familie de rugbisti, dintre care unul a jucat multi ani la nationala si a inscris impotriva Frantei la Paris in 1990, prabusirea rugby-ului romanesc este deosebit de dureroasa pentru mine. Am asistat la antrenamentele Farului, pe vremuri, pe plaja din Mamaia, la cinci dimineata, cu mingi medicinale si cu alergari de multi kilometri prin nisip. Dar, sigur, e mai usor sa te faci fotbalist, sa bei ca un porc si sa tragi cocaina pe nara cu toti interlopii si totusi, sa fii tot timpul in presa si la televizor, decat sa ari pamantul la antrenamentele superdure ale rugbistilor.

Tenisul — aici, e drept, romanii n-au avut niciodata o scoala de tenis, ci au resit sa acceada in cele mai inalte cercuri ale sportului alb numai si numai prin talentul exceptional al lui Nastase si Tiriac la barbati, sau al Virginiei Ruzici si Florentei Mihai la feminin. Totusi, te doare sufletul sa vezi ca, dupa ce au jucat trei finale de Cupa Davis si doua de Wimbledon acum vreo patru decenii, romanii sunt tot cu vitrina goala, in vreme ce Ivanisevic si ma nou, Djokovic, au reusit sa ia Wimbledonul, si Cupa Davis pentru croati si sirbi, desi au trecut prin niste razboaie teribile. Asta ca sa nu mai vorbim de rusi, care au luat si ei Cupa Davis. Acum, Romania a ajuns sa ia bataie acasa la zero de la cehi si sa iasa din prima grupa valorica. Si, pentru a mai pune sare pe rana publicului romanesc, un idiot de jucator roman a aparut pe teren la Bucuresti la meciul cu cehii cu un tricou in culorile Ungariei.

Handbalul – un sport pe care romanii l-au dominat copios la masculin pana la mijlocul anilor 70, si au luat patru titluri mondiale, ultimul la Berlin, in 1974, unde au umilit formidabila echipa a RDG-ului cu 24-22, intr-un meci care a golit strazile din toata Romania, si din care a mai ramas faimoasa imagine a portarului Cornel Penu, zambindu-i sfidator in nas neamtului care urma sa rateze un sapte metri crucial. Romania batea Spania de-o usca, pe la trofeul Carpati si alte cupe, Franta si Suedia nu existau, iar acum ne-au egalat la numarul de campionate mondiale. Echipa masculina e acum pe nicaieri, doar cea feminina ne mai spala din rusine prin evolutii bune pe la competiiile internationale. Dar, titluri mondiale, nici poveste.

Scrima – si aici, eram buni pe vremuri, prin anii 60 si 70, am luat titluri mondiale si la feminin si la masculin, mai mult la individual, mai rar pe echipe. Acum, e seceta si pe acolo. (UPDATE: Tocmai asa s-a nimerit ca, la ora la care scriam duminica randurile de mai sus, echipa feminina de spada a Romaniei castiga titlul mondial pe echipe la Catania, scotandu-le scrima din cap chinezoaicelor, pe care le-au batut in finala cu 27-26. Gata, ciuciunghezele se pot duela acum cu betisoarele cu care ingurgiteaza orez )

Sah — nu am fost noi prea grozavi niciodata, dar macar aveam niste mari maestri internationali — Florin Gheorghiu, Victor Ciocaltea, Elisabeta Polihroniade. Acum? Gigi Becali, mare maestru.

Baschet – acum vreo 10-15 ani, il aveam pe Big Ghitza Muresan. Acum, avem echipa de tineret sperante a clanului Butoane din Giurgiu, care ii bat de-i omoara pe americani. La propriu.

Canotaj — in vremuri de glorie la masculin si feminin, cu Ivan Patzaichin si mai tarziu, Elisabeta Lipa, stiam ca aveam totusi niste medalii de aur asigurate pe la Olimpiade. Acum, sunt tot mai putine si la canotaj, de parca a ramas Delta fara lipoveni.

Lupte — Gheorghe Berceanu, Nicolae Martinescu, Nicu Ginga, dadeau de pamant cu bolsevicii pe la Olimpiade, asigurand, alaturi de canotori, necesarul de medalii de aur care sa ne tina in elita olimpica. Ati mai auzit de vreun luptator de greco-romane sau libere in ultimii ani? Nu ma refer la ciomagarii aia din K1, aia nu sunt sportivi.

Box — acolo stam ceva mai bine, dupa 89 am avut trei campioni mondiali la profesionisti, din care mie personal cel mai mult imi place Mihai Leu.  Dar, si aici coruptia din federatia de box duce sportul de rapa.

Am lasat la urma sportul rege, fotbalul, pentru ca in fotbal situatia e cea mai infioratoare din toate sporturile. N-am fost niciodata o forta in soccerul mondial, dar macar aveam o echipa decenta pana la caderea comunismului, si dupa aceea am mai trait inca vreo 10 ani din resturile echipei construite de comunisti. Dupa care, a venit potopul. Pentru ca aici se invart cei mai multi bani, fotbalul a atras ca un magnet toate jigodiile, toata scursura si toata pegra societatii romanesti. Borfasii de la federatie pastoresc si tolereaza non-combatul, coruptia, si o atmosfera de golanie generalizata care te face sa vomiti numai cand ii auzi deschizand gura pe majoritatea jucatorilor, antrenorilor, sefilor si patronilor de club, si a samsarilor de jucatori care au niste mecle — uitati-va la d-alde clanul Becali — demne de filmele lui Scorsese.

Deci, in concluzie — daca se poate trage vreo concluzie — asa cum se duce de rapa intreaga societate romaneasca, se duce de rapa si sportul. Ne place sau nu, sportul romanesc a avut vremea lui de glorie pe vremea comunismului. Lumea o ducea foarte greu, iar sportul era o modalitate de manca o mancare mai buna si a calatori in Occident. Dar, asa cum erau comunistii, au subventionat sportul, l-au centralizat si au facut din sport un mod de manifestare a mandriei nationale, asa cum eram noi de amarati. Nu poate sa-mi spuna nimeni ca, politica sau nu, primirea glorioasa facuta de publicul american delegatiei Romaniei la deschiderea Olimpiadei din 1984 de la Los Angeles, cand ai nostri au fost ovationati in picioare de un stadion intreg, nu ne-a facut sa ne creasca inima-n piept. Iar locul doi in clasamentul final, dupa Statele Unite si INAINTEA Chinei, a fost o performanta fantastica, pe care nu o sa o mai atingem probabil niciodata.

Spuneam la inceput ca nu cred ca trasaturile de caracter national determina in mod decisiv performantele sportive ale unui popor. Dar sunt absolut convins ca modul in care functioneaza societatea si interesul manifestat sau nemanifestat de clasa politica pentru sport este determinant. In vara lui 1990, imediat dupa caderea comunismului, am facut un popas in Praga pe la cinci dimineata, in drum spre un turneu de handbal din Suedia. Grupul nostru de sportivi a fost invitat din curtoazie de cei de la Dukla Praga sa se refriseze la o piscina publica inainte de a lua masa si a continua drumul. Asteptand sa se deschida piscina la ora sase, priveam orasul care se trezea, pe malurile Vltavei. Cu cateva minute inainte de ora sase, zeci de oameni, evident in drum spre servici, au inceput sa convearga spre piscina. Am conversat cu cativa dintre ei, la vestiare si la dusuri, inainte si dupa inot. Toti spuneau ca aveau abonament anual individual la piscina, si ca nu ar fi putut concepe sa isi inceapa ziua de munca fara sa efectueze cateva ture de bazin inainte. Cei mai multi nu aveau masini, veneau cu autobuzul si tramvaiul, si isi continuau apoi drumul spre servici. Si asta, in natiunea cu cel mai mare consum de bere din lume pe locuitor. Toti spuneau ca fac asta dintotdeauna, deci de pe vremea comunismului, si li se parea absolut firesc. Adica, manifestau respect fata de propria lor persoana. Oare cati romani se scoala cu o ora mai devreme ca sa faca jogging sau sa mearga la piscina inainte de servici? Uitati-va la performantele sportive ale cehilor din ultimele doua decenii, si uitati-va la contraperformantele romanesti.

Sportul trebuie sprijinit din scoala, pentru ca de acolo incepe totul. Dar, atata vreme cat ai o clasa politica de smecheri care isi bat joc de ideea de subventionare a sportului si fac din asta o modalitate de a mai sterpeli din banul public (va mai amintiti de cele 400 de sali de sport promise de Bombo in 2001? Cate s-au facut, unde, cat au costat si cine le-a construit, cate mai functioneaza, cine le intretine?) sportul romanesc o sa continue sa se prabuseasca. Daca mai are unde.

Cum de s-o fi intors de-acolo?

Nu mica-i fu mirarea lui Abaddon, care de felul lui nu prea se mai mira de nimic, cand primi acum cateva zile de la unul din fondurile de investitii la care cu sarg contribuie spre propasirea capitalismului american de la orase si sate, cand primi deci, un plic cu ceva docomente cu care sa-si plateasca impozitele datorate Unchiului Sam.

Mirarea fu generata nu de primirea plicului, ci de faptul ca venea tocmai din Bermuda, unde fusese trimis din greseala.

Morala? Pai, de astia cu impozitele, nu te poti ascunde nici macar in Triunghiul Bermudelor…

Se întampla sa am instalat pe iPodul meu o aplicatie Kindle, care-mi permite sa citesc carti electronice în formatul Amazon. Se întampla sa am instalat pe calculator un programel – Mobipocket – care-mi transforma orice document PDF în e-book formatul de casa al Amazon, astfel încât orice Kindle sa-l poata reda într-un format impecabil. Se întampla sa am pe acelasi calculator câteva sute de carti în format PDF, de la literatura clasica la cartile care se afla pe lista New York Times best-selling books.

Se întâmpla…

În ultima luna am dat gata patru carti, toate citite pe ecranul iPodului. Doua despre sfârsitul Americii asa cum o stim noi (2030 – What really happened to America de Albert Brooks – actorul american care a jucat în Drive si In-Laws; After America – Get Ready for Armaggedon de Mark Steyn – comentator politic conservator de origine canadiana) si doua despre Anglia la începutul mileniului doi ( The Pillars of the Earth si World Without End - doua romane istorice fluviu cu peste doua mii de pagini, scrise de Ken Follet).

Si asa ajung la ceea ce m-a fascinat: mobilitatea lecturii. Am reusit sa-mi înving reticenta fara de formatele electronice (strânsesem o gramada de carti electronice dar aproape niciodata ne le citeam pe calculator pt ca urasc sa fac asta considerând ca citesc zilnic la birou zeci sau sute de pagini in pdf ale unor documente tehnice) si am descoperit ca exista pâna la urma gadgeturi suficient de misto care sa-mi redea placerea cititului.

Asa ca am vrut sa trec la pasul urmator : achizitionarea unui Nook sau Kindle. Cu Nook-ul m-am lamurit extra-repede cînd am realizat ca nu se vinde în Canada. Îl vroiam pe ala color însa neavând posibilitatea sa cumpar carti de la Barnes and Noble din Canada (îmi trebuie cont american, atasat la un card de credit american) m-am orientat catre Kindle DX de la Amazon. Cu câteva zile înainte sa plasez comanda, am auzit zvonuri ca Amazon va scoate o tableta color care va rivaliza (zic unii cu iPad-ul). La un pret de doar 50% din valoarea unui iPad.

Asa ca am asteptat. Zilele trecute TechCrunch a pus mâna pe noua tableta Amazon, aflata in teste si a raportat ca nici vorba sa concureze cu iPadul. Mai exact, au spus ca scopul Amazon e sa muste puternic din felia acoperita de Nook-ul color de la B&N si nu de iPad. Deci tableta va avea sistem de operare Kindle OS, fara camera, fara aplicatii Android, fara memorie (doar 8GB) si fara posibilitatea de a folosi marea aplicatie care se numeste Press Reader si care permite citirea a mii de ziare din toata lumea (inclusiv Gazeta Sporturilor ca sa dau numai un exemplu) într-un format similar cu forma tiparita a ziarului.

Nu ca asta m-ar afecta teribil. Însa ma gândeam ca daca tot iau o tableta, macar sa faca si niste chestii în plus fata de un cititor electronic. Asa ca probabil ori voi reveni la ideea initiala de Kindle DX, ori voi astepta noul iPhone 5 care va avea un ecran ceva mai mare si-l voi folosi (printre altele) ca si cititor de carti electronice. Pt ca totusi marele avantaj al unui iPod sau iPhone este portabilitatea absoluta. Pot sa umblu cu colectia de carti în buzunarul de la blugi fara probleme.

Cam asta e cu cititoarele si cititorii.

În alta ordine de idei, acesta este ultimul meu articol de pe Cafeina.ro în forma actuala. Am decis sa închid dupa trei ani de activitate blogul, pt ca ma plictiseste. Am ajuns sa moderez comentariile odata la o saptamâna daca nu si mai rar. Activitatea mea sociala în online se reduce în ultimul timp la verificarea e-mailului si la facebook. O sa-l mai pastrez o bucata pentru ca vreau sa salvez câteva articole mai rasarite în format pdf si asta-mi ia timp pt ca n-am gasit înca programme de conversie WordPress to pdf care sa exporte întregul blog. Asa ca trebuie sa fac conversia manual. Însa cînd îmi expira contractul de hosting actual, prin februarie viitor, I’m out!

Asta e, viata merge înainte.

SPECIAL REPORT-Romania”s roads to nowhere

By Luiza Ilie

BUCHAREST, May 26 (Reuters) – On a crisp evening last December, Romanian Transport Minister Anca Boagiu met German investors in the conference room of a hotel in downtown Bucharest. A petite woman with dark hair pulled back in a severe bun at the nape of her neck, she was introduced as “the minister in charge of making up for lost time”. On the screen behind Boagiu, slides showed a succession of maps with yet-to-be-built motorways, ring roads and bypasses.

There were ambitious new national roads, upgraded railway lines, train stations, ports and airports. The conference room”s 21st-floor windows gave onto a breathtaking view of the capital. Block after block, mile after mile was clogged with traffic. “My task,” she told the investors, eyeing them from behind rimless eye glasses, “is to recover delays in infrastructure.” The gaps Boagiu must fill are huge — and common in scores of developing countries from eastern Europe to Africa to Asia. But Romania”s story also exposes another issue, one which goes to the heart of the European project. The country, which shook off communism in 1989 and joined the European Union in 2007, has a potential 4.6 billion euros in EU funding for transport infrastructure, available until 2013. By the end of last year, Bucharest had managed to use just 47 million euros of that. If Boagiu can”t find a way to speed up projects and use the funds, the country will lose them.

Like countries suddenly enriched by the discovery of oil, former communist states that have access to billions in European Union development funds can find them both blessing and curse. The funds — some 160 billion euros between 2007 and 2013 across the former eastern bloc — are meant to help new members catch up with the rest of the EU. But what if a country like Romania simply can”t absorb that cash? Should it concentrate on fixing its government services and institutions – its software, as it were — before it can move to fancy new hardware like motorways? Is it possible to graft developed-world standards onto states whose institutions are running years behind those of the donors? “Public investment spending is not small,” Romania”s central bank Governor Mugur Isarescu told a news conference last October. “But there are 42,000 unfinished investment projects in Romania. This is not efficient. We are the country of unfinished projects.”

EXIT RAMP

Romania”s massive infrastructure deficit dates back more than 20 years, to when the country was in the grip of Nicolae Ceausescu, one of Communism”s most repressive dictators. In the 1980s, Ceausescu backed an export-led drive to clear Romania of billions of dollars in foreign debt, slashing investment to pay off creditors. That left infrastructure lagging behind even Romania”s Balkan neighbours — countries which historically had been much poorer. According to a global competitiveness report by the World Economic Forum, Romania ranks just 134th out of 139 countries by the quality of its roads. The WEF says transport infrastructure is still one of the chief reasons hampering investment. The country is the EU”s ninth-largest member by land area, but has only 331 km (211 miles) of motorway, less than half that of neighbouring Hungary (925 km) and not even three percent of Germany”s 12,813 km. Go for a drive in Romania (population 22 million) and you can bump for hours over gravel country roads to reach villages — some without electricity, indoor plumbing or running water — whose schools have closed because the young have moved away for a better life. Dusty national roads lead past lush farmland which is failing to achieve its potential because machinery is outdated and land ownership fragmented. Cities are choked with traffic because there”s no way to drive round them.

The rail system is no better. Outdated trains travel at an average 45 km per hour, while elsewhere in Europe the top speed can hit 320 km/hour. When mobile phone maker Nokia announced it was moving a production plant to Romania from Germany in 2008, horses and carts still travelled the road to the new site. That same year Daimler chose Hungary over Romania or Poland as the site of a new 800 million-euro car factory with about 2,500 jobs. Hungary, which has higher labour costs and tax rates than Romania, credited the win to its dense network of motorways. With a cheap and skilled labour force and attractive flat tax on income and profit, Romania has attracted investment by carmakers Renault and Ford. But even they have complained about the roads. “When it bought the plant, Ford wanted to build 1,000 cars a day and … that would bring a lot of money and jobs to Romania,” U.S. ambassador Mark Gitenstein told a Romanian television station in April. “But unless there is a motorway … it will not make 1,000 cars a day or hire so many people. You need motorways.” None of Romania” existing motorways connect the country with its neighbours. It”s a closed system. Even ambitious projects like the Transylvania Motorway have so far failed to live up to their promise.

TRANSYLVANIA MOTORWAY

U.S. construction group Bechtel broke official ground on Romania”s biggest motorway at a site near the 15th-century Transylvanian village of Valisoara on a mild summer day in 2004. Then prime minister Adrian Nastase cut ceremonial ribbons and excavators bit into the ground to the soundtrack of Vivaldi”s “Four Seasons”. On that day, the future seemed almost tangible: there would be a smooth, spacious four-lane motorway, 415 km long with more than 300 bridges, 70 overpasses and 19 interchanges, connecting the central Romanian region of Transylvania to Hungary. The road would bring jobs, tourists and foreign investors. “A motorway is forever,” Michael Mix, Bechtel”s then project manager said in a 2007 company brief. “It is a legacy.” Seven years since the project began, a little more than 10 percent of the road has been delivered. The state has paid Bechtel more than 1 billion euros of public money and analysts say the project will end up costing at least double the initial estimate of 2.2 billion euros. The deadline has been pushed back a year to 2013, but could end up taking years longer. Rather than being forever, “it feels as if this motorway may take forever,” quipped Ana Otilia Nutu, an infrastructure expert at Romanian Academic Society, a think tank.

Infrastructure projects and overruns go hand in hand the world over. But a 2010 study by JASPERS, a European Union agency that helps eastern European states prepare projects eligible for EU cash, found cost overruns were more likely in Romania than in eight other central and eastern European states included in the study, largely due to weak public administration. Even by Romanian standards, the Bechtel example is extreme. In the years since the groundbreaking, government inquiries have found the deal disadvantaged Bucharest from the start. The project was granted to Bechtel without a public tender, despite clear legislation demanding transparency. This angered international bodies including the European Union, which said it wouldn”t support it, leaving the financing burden to the state. At the time of the initial deal, Nastase said Romania could not afford to navigate a lengthy tender process if it wanted to catch up with affluent western European states. He lost power in late 2004, and a new centre-right coalition government put motorway works on hold while it renegotiated. Those talks, which lasted for eight months, showed how the initial contract was bad for Romania.

The deal committed the country to giving Bechtel an interest-free loan of 250 million euros, on top of monthly payments for works. It made it virtually impossible under Romanian law to pursue compensation if Bechtel failed to meet its obligations. It left Bechtel in charge of controlling costs, giving it a free hand to decide the route. It even contained translation errors unfavourable to Romania, the transport ministry said in 2005. A revised contract cut 126 million euros off the overall price. It scrapped the interest-free loan, and the government took over road design — which gave it more control over costs. At the same time, most of the terms were made public. 

But according to a former government official, important details — including some related to prices and quantities of construction materials that point to significantly higher costs down the line — remained hidden in confidential clauses. Together with other penalties, these would continue to make the motorway”s price “onerous” over time, said the former government official, who has seen the full contract and spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorised to speak publicly.

In subsequent years a series of governments failed to allot sufficient funds to buy land or relocate utilities. Bucharest also fell behind on payments. The transport ministry”s national road company, CNADR, said in March it owed Bechtel 105 million euros despite having forked out just under half the initial estimated cost. Bechtel has finished 13 percent of the total commission.

At the start of this year Bechtel fired some 800 workers — most of its staff in Romania — over its unpaid bill. Boagiu, who has talked with the company about costs, says her focus is on motorway projects eligible for EU funds. No budget has yet been allotted for the Transylvania Motorway for 2011.

In spite of all this, Romania is locked into the deal — both legally and practically, since any abandoned work would deteriorate and create an even bigger problem. Some government officials have said Bucharest may reconsider its position when work ends on the section currently under construction. But it would be hard to walk away altogether. “The contract is (virtually) unbreakable,” a current government official said, also on condition of anonymity. “The compensation costs to Bechtel would be forbidding.”

Bechtel representatives in Romania declined to comment until current negotiations reach a conclusion.

ROADS AHEAD

This is not the first time Boagiu has been transport minister. She briefly held the position in 2000 in a one-year government led by current central bank governor Isarescu.

“When I came back to the ministry I found projects untouched since I left them here 10 years ago,” she told Reuters. “These were projects that had studies and funding that could have been done but weren”t because of ignorance and carelessness.”

She talks tough about unpicking cosy arrangements. “There is great friendship between builders, consultants and some employees of the national road company,” she said she told the German investors. “Well, no more.”

Some progress is already apparent. Boagiu has passed changes to speed up land appropriation and tender challenges, and introduced cost standards. One km of motorway should now cost 3.8-6 million euros depending on the terrain. Previous projects have cost more than 10 million euros per km.

She has enforced a rule limiting cost variations to no more than 10 percent of the contract”s initial value, which she says will deter bidders from underestimating their costs to win tenders, only to increase prices later.

The ministry has nixed projects, including, in April, cancelling a motorway contract with a French company, Colas, after it failed to meet a deadline and asked for additional cash.

Boagiu has also chosen winning tenders for several EU-backed motorways, with work set to start this year. She says Romania should have another 532 km of motorway by 2015, an estimate some transporters and analysts see as optimistic.

Importantly, Boagiu has increased Romania”s absorption of EU transport funds from 47 million euros at the end of 2010 to 113 million in March. It”s still only a fraction of the total, but it is progress and she says she can boost the rate to 20 percent by the end of the year.

“We have projects to cover the entire amount and we must tap these funds,” Boagiu said.

HELICOPTER RIDE

The “minister of lost time” has a reputation for getting things done. “Compared to other former transport ministers, Anca Boagiu seems much more credible,” said the Romanian Academic Society”s Nutu. “What matters is that after many problems we are getting to a point where works are ready to start on several motorway projects.”

Plenty of obstacles remain. Low wages and political involvement in job appointments have resulted in a shortage of skilled staff at the state road-building company. Only 8 percent of the company”s staff are engineers and traffic studies are out of date.

There are also legal headaches. Before a contractor can start work, the government must buy the land, which in a former communist state is perhaps the biggest hold-up of all. Sometimes registry documents do not exist and descendants are fighting each other through the courts. In other cases landowners sue the state for a better price, freezing projects for years.

Construction firms that fail to win tenders often challenge the auctions, delaying works, in a move that analysts and even Boagiu said was often a tactic to force the winning bidder to subcontract parts of the project.

On top of all this contractors digging in Romania”s ancient soil often stumble on archaeological discoveries which must be preserved — 11 have been found near the Valisoara village where Bechtel broke ground — as well as utility pipelines, which the state must relocate at its own expense.

All this creates a seemingly never-ending cycle, made worse by a disorganised public administration. “From my point of view, the lack of motorways in Romania is due 60 percent to incompetence, 30 percent to corruption and 10 percent to valid, objective reasons,” former finance minister Sebastian Vladescu told Reuters.

“Political and individual interests may be present to a higher degree in Romania than in other states. But Romanians are incompetent more than they are corrupt. If Romanians were corrupt they would do everything in their power to attract EU funds so they can spend them. That has not been the case.”

Nutu from the Romanian Academic Society puts the main problem down to an overall lack of public accountability. It means infrastructure development keeps faltering, which fosters mistrust.

The doubt seems even to run all the way up to President Traian Basescu.

“If you ever want to truly see Romania, don”t use the roads,” Basescu told a meeting of potential investors from the Gulf in March. “I recommend a helicopter.”

Argumentul nr.1 al avocatului lui Strauss-Kahn a fost: Clientului meu nu i s-a spus niciodata ca unei femei nu i se poate face ceea ce i se poate face unei tzari.