Sustainable priorities and improvement of infrastructure in North-Eastern Romania

In Suceava, public transportation is being modernised, as is the rehabilitation of municipal spaces

Suceava municipality in north-eastern Romania intends to improve sustainable mobility in the city by encouraging the use of electric and environmentally friendly buses. The measures would be implemented this year by introducing one-way traffic on a number of main roads, but they would be contingent on the completion of another major project - the modernisation of public transportation.

On Tuesday, the mayor of Suceava, Ion Lungu, met with the Minister of Development, Attila Cseke, and Minister of European Projects, Sorin Ghinea, to discuss projects that can be funded for regions through the National Recovery and Resilience Programme. The mayor of Suceava is confident that these projects will bring in more funds for the city.

Electric buses, car parks and new bike lanes

The city will introduce single lanes for public transportation and will also make specially designed bike lanes. Currently, bike lanes are only drawn on sidewalks where there is no available space, so the municipality intends to establish permanent bike lanes.

Priority projects for the municipality are:

• urban regeneration, above-ground and underground car parks and extension of green spaces,
• purchasing of electric buses and public transport infrastructure improvement - single lanes for trolleybuses,
• improved bike lanes,
• rehabilitation of public buildings – for example, the City Hall. This can also be applied to schools and other public buildings,
• social housing construction and energy efficiency - rehabilitation of district heating networks.

The mayor of Suceava, who is also the first vice-president of the Associations of Romanian Municipalities, added that several options for using the money from the National Recovery and Resilience Program were advanced during the discussions.

The allocation of equitable funds has created a heated debate to show that small municipalities are disadvantaged and must develop. Some believe that half of the funding received should be set aside and the other half's spending should be decided by the population.