8,000 Romanian Car Workers Protest Against Gov't Over Highway Delay

8,000 car workers from Romania's southern city of Pitesti called on the government to start the construction of a highway to protect their jobs and create the new ones in the region.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) — Some 8,000 car workers from Romania's southern city of Pitesti took to the streets on Monday to urge the government to start the long-delayed construction of a highway to protect their jobs, local media reported.

The project to construct the 75-mile highway between the Romanian cities of Pitesti and Sibiu has been discussed by Bucharest for years, but has been repeatedly postponed because of the disagreements within the government, despite the partial financing of the project by the European Union.

According to the BalkanInsight news website, the protesters express fear that the absence of the highway would make the owners of the Dacia car factory in Pitesti move the production to other country.

The protesters called on the government to start the construction to protect their jobs and create the new ones in the region.

In 2015, Romania announced plans to renew its road infrastructure with the help of the European Union. The project aimed at construction of 450 miles of new highways and some 1,100 miles of express roads. Bucharest estimates the project costs at 28.6 billion euros ($31.5 billion at the current exchange rate,) while the European Union is expected to allocate some six billion euros to finance the Romanian infrastructure improvement.