The Sculeni commune hall announced on Thursday, 23 July, the start of works to modernise Burebista Street. In a short video clip, the administration specified that the repair is being carried out “under the Government Programme ‘Europe is Near’” — a state programme through which villages and towns across the country repair their roads. Behind the one-sentence announcement, however, lie more than a year of decisions, a tender worth over four million lei and a challenge that public documents lay out in full.
From the outset, a clarification that avoids an easy confusion: this is not Burebista Street in Ungheni. The municipality is refurbishing, this same year and also through “Europe is Near”, a street of the same name in the Dănuțeni neighbourhood — a work of about 10.3 million lei that Triunghi.md has already written about. The one in Sculeni is a distinct project, of smaller value, in a different locality.
What “Europe is Near” is
The programme was announced in May 2025 by Deputy Prime Minister Vladimir Bolea and deals exclusively with local roads — streets in villages and towns, communal roads, pavements. The files are assessed by the National Office for Regional and Local Development, and the money comes from the state budget. The Ministry of Infrastructure described the source as follows:
The “Europe is Near” programme is financed by the Government through the “Buget+” financial package, with a value of 500 million lei. The maximum ceiling for each project is 10 million lei. Ministry of Infrastructure and Regional Development, communiqué of 19 May 2025
For large localities, with over 1,500 residents — as Sculeni is —, the ceiling is up to nine million lei, with a contribution of 10% from the local budget. To the 2025 call, 579 town halls responded, with projects totalling 2.6 billion lei — more than five times the available fund. The enormous interest explains why every street admitted into the programme is, for a community, a competition won.
How the project reached Sculeni
The road was not chosen from an office. On 1 May 2025, the town hall organised public consultations to establish which section most needed repair, and the result was validated by the communal council on 29 May, through Decision No. 03/01. The document records that, following the discussions with residents, “the capital repair of Burebista Street was identified as a priority” and approves the submission of the project “Works to modernise Burebista Street in the village of Sculeni, Ungheni district”. Mayor Sergiu Gușevati was mandated to submit the file and sign the financing contract. The decision passed with 12 votes in favour, none against and one abstention.
Unlike the repairs “in the white variant” in other localities — simple gravelling —, the Sculeni project is a capital repair, with an asphalt surface, as the state programme allows.
A four-million tender and five bidders
For the execution, the town hall organised an open tender, with an estimated value of 4,056,652 lei. Five road-construction firms entered, with close offers: the lowest was submitted by Vicoliv Grup — 3,438,069 lei —, followed by “Drumuri Strășeni” (3,556,765), Aedificator (3,627,342), Lincons (3,849,923) and Corsag (3,949,665).
As with other recent local procurements, the public data do not yet show an official winner: the offers appear as under evaluation, and the value of the signed contract is not displayed. The fact that the works have begun means that a contract exists — but who is carrying it out, and for how much, will be confirmed only when the award is published or upon a request addressed to the town hall.
A challenge upheld in full
The road to the construction site was not smooth. The firm that had submitted the lowest price, Vicoliv Grup, challenged the way the commission had evaluated the offers, and the National Agency for Dispute Resolution found in its favour: on 16 April 2026, the challenge was upheld in full, with remedial measures. In simple terms, the initial evaluation was annulled and sent back to be redone. It is a public procedural stage, not a conclusion about the integrity of any firm — but it explains why, between the approval of the project in 2025 and the start of the works in July 2026, more than a year passed.
A street a step from the border crossing
Sculeni is no ordinary village: with almost 4,750 residents, the commune is one of the most important points on the country’s western border, through the Sculeni–Iași customs crossing. A repaired central street there means not only the comfort of a few households, but also a small piece of a larger picture — that of a state programme which, at least on paper, brings asphalt to the edge of the villages. The contractor for the work, the value of the signed contract and the completion deadline do not, for now, appear in the procurement’s public documents; they become official once the award is published.