IMPACT DEVELOPER & CONTRACTOR’S REACTION REGARDING THE CAR TRAFFIC RESTRICTION ON VADUL MOLDOVEI STREET, DISTRICT 1, BUCHAREST

09Jan2023

Considering the recent car traffic restriction on the road located in Vadul Moldovei Street, District 1, Bucharest, by closing with a barrier, as well as the procrastination by the Bucharest City Hall and the Sector 1 City Hall of the necessary procedures for its transfer from the public domain of the Romanian State, in the public domain of the Municipality of Bucharest, managed by Romsilva,  IMPACT DEVELOPER & CONTRACTOR SA, makes the following statements:

Over time, being aware of the disadvantages and the impact of closing public access to the Road, the Municipality of Bucharest and Romsilva, together with other authorities such as the Ministry of the Environment and the District 1 of the Municipality of Bucharest have tried to identify solutions to unblock this situation.

Thus, between 2017 – 2018, a series of decisions were taken by the General Council of the Municipality of Bucharest and also by the Local Council of the District 1 City Hall, with the purpose of unblocking the situation regarding the Road, meetings were held between the representatives of the authorities involved, permits were issued by Romsilva’s board of directors for the transfer of forest roads and correlative lands from the public domain of the Romanian State and from Romsilva’s administration into the public domain of the Municipality of Bucharest and also Romsilva and District 1 City Hall concluded a contract of use, having as its object the public use with vehicles of two forest roads.

Further more, in support of this initiative, IMPACT donated three plots of land with a total area of 6,000 sq m and a value of 800,000 euro (VAT excluded), located in District 1 with the purpose of carrying out the formalities for the transfer of the Road from the public domain of the Romanian State – in the administration of Romsilva, in the public domain of the Municipality of Bucharest.

The General Council of the Municipality of Bucharest accepted the donation with obligations and approved the conclusion of the donation contract subject to obtaining Romsilva’s consent.

On May 18, 2018, Romsilva issued the permit for the acceptance of the donation.

Bucharest City Hall accepted the offer on June 13, 2018.

By accepting the donation, the Municipality of Bucharest obliged itself to give Romsilva the lands received from IMPACT as compensation, in order to open public access to the Road, between Privighetorilor Avenue and Padurea Pustnicu Road.

Next, on September 20, 2019, Romsilva issued the notice for the definitive removal of the 3,009 sqm land from the forest fund under the public ownership of the Romanian State for the construction of the access road – the beneficiary being the Municipality of Bucharest, as well as for the introduction into the forestry circuit, in equivalent compensation, of the donated lands.

Despite the above mentioned facts, the authorities involved in this process, without a legal justification, stopped carrying out the necessary formalities to allow public access to the Road, respectively to complete the necessary procedures for the transfer of the Road from the public domain of the Romanian State (under the administration of Romsilva) into the public domain of the Municipality of Bucharest.

More specifically, the Municipality of Bucharest has not yet fulfilled its obligation to perform the task as assumed in the donation contract.

During the year 2022, IMPACT notified all the institutions involved in order to determine the Municipality of Bucharest through the Mayor General to complete these steps. The current situation is the result of the passivity of the General Mayor who refuses to complete the steps described above.

At this moment, the General Council of the Municipality of Bucharest must request the Romanian Government to issue a decision on the basis of which the transfer free of the Road from the public domain of the Romanian State, under the administration of Romsilva, to the public domain of the Municipality of Bucharest, under the administration of the General Council of the Municipality of Bucharest, and to pay the applicable fees, for the permanent removal of the land from the national forest fund.

Otherwise, IMPACT will have to initiate court actions in order to obtain the right of access to this road, for the benefit of the over 6,500 residents in the surrounding area.

Under these conditions, the only authorities able to restore a legal situation will be the courts. Although we cannot guarantee the result of our actions because the courts are sovereign in judging, we are confident that we will win the case.

Moreover, in recent years, IMPACT has taken all the necessary steps to build three other access roads to the Greenfield Baneasa compound. For this purpose, our company purchased land, invested in technical projects, drew up and submitted documentation, all three projects have been waiting for the approval of the authorities for four years, in each of the cases below there have been delays in their response.

The three projects are in various approval stages, as follows:

• The project in the most advanced stage refers to the construction of an access road connecting the northern part of Aleia Teișani and the Bucharest Ring Road through an intersection leg positioned under the drawbridge on the Bucharest Ring Road. In order to build this access road, IMPACT purchased a plot of land with an area of 4,150 sqm and submitted in January 2022 all the necessary documentation, including all the required approvals, to the Bucharest City Hall in order to obtain the approval of the Chief Architect. After receiving this last opinion, the project will receive final approval within the General Council of the Municipality of Bucharest.

• The second project refers to the creation of an access road throughTeișani Avenue in the northern area, respectively the around km 1+970 – km 13+987 milestone, which will be located in the area of the Greenfield Plaza shopping center, more precisely near kilometer 14 of the Bucharest Ring Road. In order to start the construction, IMPACT still needs to obtain the approval of the Network Coordination Commission of the Bucharest City Hall, where it has submitted the necessary documentation since October 2020. After obtaining it, IMPACT will submit all the documentation to the Bucharesct City Hall in order to obtain the approval of the Chief Architect and after that the approval of the General Council of the Municipality of Bucharest.

• The third project aimed by IMPACT refers to the development of the intersections between Teișani Avenue and the National Road 1 intersection leg, as well as between the National Road 1 intersection leg and the Bucharest Ring Road. This traffic solution would not only improve the access of the residents of the Greenfield Băneasa neighborhood, but, according to the studies carried out, it would streamline all the traffic in the Otopeni Bridge area on the National Road 1, an area where at present there are frequent traffic jams significant in length and duration. For the realization of this project, IMPACT purchased a plot of land with an area of 1,000 sqm, currently located in the forest fund. As early as December 2020, IMPACT notified CNAIR about the traffic solution it wants to make available, CNAIR being the only institution that can request the removal of the land made available by IMPACT from the forest fund.

In more than 30 years of experience in the real estate market in Romania, IMPACT has provided the well-being of the residents of the built complexes, both through the high quality of the homes and through the positive impact on people’s lives, developing communities with an emphasis on sustainability, efficiency and generating added value for all parties involved.