Romania proposes two-year grace period for PNDL projects

A new legislative proposal submitted to the Romanian Parliament seeks to grant local authorities a two-year grace period to complete infrastructure projects funded through the National Program for Local Development (PNDL). The initiative, introduced by Senator Attila Cseke, aims to prevent the mandatory recovery of funds from municipalities that have failed to meet original contract deadlines due to objective factors such as litigation, bankruptcies, and rising costs.

Currently, approximately 1,950 projects remain unfinished. The amount already transferred from the state budget for these incomplete works totals over 10.8 billion lei. Without this extension, local authorities would be required to return these funds, which could lead to the total abandonment of construction sites as municipalities lack the resources to continue using their own funds.

The proposal argues that extending contract deadlines is more economically efficient than initiating legal procedures to reclaim the money, which would leave projects stalled indefinitely.