ROMANIA AND MOLDOVA TO BE LINKED WITH 'UNIFICATION HIGHWAY'

The project of building the "Unirea Highway" (Targu-Mures - Iasi - Ungheni) has been approved by the Chamber of Deputies of the Romanian Parliament, MP Constantin Codreanu reported from Bucharest on Wednesday.

The 320-kilometer-long road, to cost 4 billion euros, will be built for European money. The works are to be launched within 30 days from the publication of the Highway Law, with a maximum work duration to be 4 years. The Unirea Highway, including a new bridge to be built across the Prut River, is to be commissioned by December 1, 2022.

"It is particularly important that the highway will link Moldova with Romania because the project stipulates the construction of a new bridge across the Prut near [the Moldovan town of] Ungheni to cross the unfair border established by the USSR [in 1940]", presumes Codreanu, a Member of the Parliament of Romania from the Popular Movement Party, who was born and raised in Moldova.

The bill, initiated by Movement deputies Petru Movila and Marius Pascan, was supported by 261 MPs.

"This strategic project is proving that national solidarity is possible. The Unirea Highway, besides its other advantages, is one of correct means of returning Bessarabia into our Romanian and European national family", said the ex-Moldovan.

Earlier, the project was approved by the Senate of Romania. In the deputies' opinion, the highway construction will create new jobs and promote the growth of tourism and exports, and will facilitate the leveling of the Romanian region of Moldova and of the Republic of Moldova with the rest Romanian regions in terms of transport development and living standards.