'Making progress as far as school infrastructure, health infrastructure, social housing are concerned, these are the pressing needs of Bucharest. From the macro point of view, we are heading towards what will be the future region with the capital in Bucharest, meaning the corridor towards the Danube in order to be able to achieve the objective we set up several years ago, joining the Council of Danube Cities and Regions, thanks to the support and kindness of Vienna Mayor Mr. (Michael) Haupl,' Oprescu told the Romanian journalists in Brussels.
He also said that the host of the Thursday's meeting, European Commissioner for Regional Policy Johannes Hahn showed all the openness to the Danube-Bucharest Canal project. Oprescu said it is time to 'talk about what the Danube-Bucharest Canal means, about Bucharest being port to the Danube, tourism development on both sides of this canal, the development of houses and offices and the enhancement of the entire area that is part either of Ilfov or of Giurgiu, let's talk about the fact that the string of lakes located south of Bucharest that was never used at its true potential, because Bucharest has developed towards north in recent years, whether we wanted or not.'
As for the current programming period, Sorin Oprescu quantified the EU funds attracted by Bucharest over the last years to 600 million euros. Concerning the Danube-Bucharest Canal project, Oprescu said the project is supported by the administrations of the Lower Danube ports.
Adapted from: AGERPRES