After a court case lasting 3 years, the magistrates of the Galati Court of Appeal rule that Galati municipality must pay the consortium almost 4 million lei for the feasibility study of the tunnel that will not be built.

In 2013, then-newly elected mayor of Galati, Marius Stan, to build a tunnel under the river Danube. Feasibility study was made by the Swiss company Basler & Hofmann AG in Zurich which cost the municipality 82,000 lei.

The tunnel would be 2.06 km long, to large extend excavated by a TBM. It would cost 230 million euros without VAT

In October 2015, the tender for the feasibility study was won by a consortium led by Louis Berger SAS, together with Ernst & Young and the law firm Ţuca Zbârcea & Asociaţii Bucureşti for a price of 3.8 million euros,

But in June 2016 the mayor changed. The new mayor Ionuț Pucheanu did not want to build the tunnel. He alsodid not want to pay the consortium for the feasibility study, claiming that some work was performed outside the Galati municipality area.

Now the appeals court says the 3.8 million lei must be paid with taxpayers money.

https://www.gandul.ro/financiar/macroeconomie/infrastructura/esec-la-mal-singurul-tunel-care-ar-fi-traversat-dunarea-nu-va-fi-construit-dar-generat-o-nota-de-plata-de-trei-milioane-lei-19556063