Iohannis: It is obvious that infrastructure in Romania lagging behind, its development, not desired

President Klaus Iohannis said on Friday that it was "obvious" that Romania's infrastructure "lags behind" because its development was not desired, stressing that this paradigm will change. He participated in the opening of the Iernut - Chetani motorway section in Mures County. "It is obvious that the infrastructure in Romania is lagging behind. I do not want to detail again why it is lagging, I think that around me there are people who all know that, in fact, the development of the infrastructure was not really desired and now this paradigm has changed, now it is wanted. Please understand why I am here today. I did not come for festivities and I did not come to end something, I came to give a signal. I came to give the signal that we have to work faster, we have to stick to deadlines and we have to advance much faster with the infrastructure works. This event is not a terminus point, this event is a mid-point, because we have still got a lot of work to do in Romania," said Iohannis. The head of state added that the large infrastructure is an "extremely" important point in the National Plan for Romania's Economic Recovery, "perhaps the most difficult". "There is a need here for a lot of involvement and here I have very high expectations from the Government and the builders to take important steps. So this event wants to show that we realize the importance of these works and we realize that we need to change the pace, things must go faster. We need infrastructure. For that, of course, we need funding, but now the European funds are ready, the works need to be prepared and these big infrastructure projects will be the impetus with which Romania's economy will recover significantly. My presence here today wants to show that I am interested and I will stay connected to these projects, I will stay connected because I realize their importance," Iohannis said. According to the president, infrastructure development is not "just a campaigning political desire", but a basic necessity. "Think that if we are talking about motorway works, we have the ambition to build the Transylvania Motorway, which must be completed, the Unirii Motorway, Prahova Valley, Olt Valley and many other works that we have planned and that this time, I can assure you, we will achieve in a surprisingly short time," Klaus Iohannis communicated.AGERPRES(RO - author: Dana Piciu, editor: Claudia Stanescu; EN - author: Simona Iacob, editor: Maria Voican)