Only 40% of Romania’s population has secured access to the natural gas network at the moment, the Minister of Development, Marcel-Alexandru Stoica, said on Monday. He says that the “Anghel Saligny” Program, run at the national level by the Ministry of Development, is the only one that can support domestic consumers’ access to the gas network.
The Minister of Development participated on Monday, together with local and county authorities, at the inauguration of the natural gas distribution network and mentioned that through the government program, distribution networks with a total length of 35 kilometers were built in the Luncaviţa commune of Tulcea, respectively in the villages of Rachelu and Luncaviţa.
“The ‘Anghel Saligny’ National Investment Program is the only one after the Revolution that has a gas component. The operators have made expansion investments, but this is the largest investment program. We also had emotions to see if it works, but now I see that everything is fine. To have 35 kilometers of gas networks in a community is enormous, from my point of view,” said the Minister of Development, Marcel Stoica, according to Agerpres.
He mentioned, in context, that the distribution network of this utility covers only about 40% of the needs of the Romanian population.
“Filing a project to the end is not easy. There are changes in solutions, a number of branches are needed so that we have facilities for all the citizens of the locality and, as you know, the money. There was always no money at the ministry and we had to do an analysis and practically plan these payment requests”, said the Minister of Development.
He also visited two houses in the villages of Rachelu and Luncaviţa connected to the natural gas network.
“I submitted the request for about half a year, since I heard that the network was being pulled. It was expensive, but the investment is necessary. You realize that not everyone can afford it”, said E. Căpățănă, from the village of Rachelu.
For his part, the mayor of Luncaviţa commune, Aurel Iorga, stated that the investment started in 2022, based on a feasibility study done previously. He mentioned that all the population of the two villages of the commune can be connected to the natural gas network.
The data provided to Agerpres by the president of the territorial branch of the Association of Municipalities in Romania, the mayor of Jurilovca commune, Eugen Ion, shows that more than 15 administrative-territorial units from the county were included in the government program of the Ministry of Development.
