The National Road Administration (AND) published on 14 August, in the Official Journal of the European Union, the tender notice for the feasibility study of the A8 Ungheni–Chișinău–Odesa motorway. Estimated value: 87,880,953 lei, excluding VAT. The contract covers the first segment — from the Ungheni interchange to the intersection of the M5 and R5 roads, near the village of Budești, close to Chișinău: approximately 125 kilometres.
The study must be delivered by 30 September 2027. Interested companies may submit bids by 21 September 2026 (according to ANDSA) or 24 September 2026 (according to the TED notice). The award criterion is the lowest price, excluding VAT.
The chosen route: M5, not R1
Two route options existed for the motorway: the R1 road (Chișinău–Sculeni) or the M5 (Bălți–Chișinău), also known as the “betonka” — the country’s longest concrete-slab road, built in the 1980s.
According to the pre-feasibility study cited by Europa Liberă, R1 was ruled out. A third of the route passes through villages or towns, including Pârlița and Cornești — both in the Ungheni district. Widening the road to four lanes within built-up areas would be, in the study authors’ assessment, “practically and socially impossible due to adjacent private properties”. Near Cornești, the terrain is hilly, with altitude differences of 150 metres and switchbacks. A bypass variant would have affected the Plaiul Fagului Nature Reserve.
The M5, by contrast, bypasses settlements, has grade-separated junctions and room for lateral expansion. According to the same pre-feasibility study, “the parameters of the existing road are close to the requirements for a motorway”.
What the construction would cost
The current tender is for the study, not the road. Construction can only be tendered after the study is delivered.
Estimates from the pre-feasibility study, cited by Europa Liberă: the two segments from Ungheni to Negrești would require at least EUR 1.2 billion. The entire Ungheni–Odesa corridor — approximately EUR 2.8 billion. The cost of the Negrești–Budești segment, roughly 30 kilometres, has not been estimated.
The feasibility study is funded from the Road Fund for 2026. According to TED, the project is not funded from European Union funds. The pre-feasibility study, by contrast, was funded by the European Union, according to Europa Liberă.
Ungheni: the junction point
The Moldovan motorway begins where the Romanian one ends. On 2 July 2026, in Bucharest, the construction contract was signed for section IV of the A8 from Romania — 15.5 kilometres on the Romanian side plus 4.7 kilometres on Moldovan territory, from the Prut bridge to the Ungheni bypass, funded entirely by the Romanian side through the SAFE programme. Design work on this section is scheduled to begin on 24 August.
Along the chosen route of the Moldovan motorway, the M5, the Iași–Ungheni–Chișinău gas pipeline intersects — a 600-millimetre pipe. According to the pre-feasibility study, cited by Europa Liberă, the pipeline “does not meet the requirements for road undercrossings” and the reconstruction project will need to include adaptation solutions.
What comes next
The deadline for bids is in September 2026. On the MTender portal, as of 20 August, eight clarifications from interested companies had been published. The study, once delivered in September 2027, will be the document on the basis of which the actual construction can be tendered.