Justice Minister Marinescu, WB representatives discuss portfolio of judiciary investment projects

Justice Minister Radu Marinescu met on Monday with World Bank representatives in Romania for talks on the portfolio of investment projects in the judiciary for the present and the next five years, the Justice Ministry said in a release.According to the said document, judiciary investments for the next period consist of three main projects, which will be carried out with WB support.The first is the Judicial Services Improvement Project, which so far has seen contracts signed for approximately the entire value of the financing agreement, specifically some 59.025 million euros of the 60 million euros (98.37%). As much as 49.7 million euros (82.85%) have been effectively spent to date, and the rest of the previously contracted amounts will be spent by November 30, 2025, essentially for the continuation of works at the new headquarters of the Targu Neamt Court (current completion stage is 52%), the continuation of the design of the headquarters of the Corabia and Calafat courts, of the Sibiu Tribunal, as well as the continuation of the micro works required for the restoration of the LAN communication networks at 37 court headquarters, grouped in 6 lots.The contracts signed under the project "Consolidation of the bases for judicial services improvement" amount to a combined 0.37 million euros of the 100 million euros available (0.37%), approximately 35 million euros are in the process of contracting (international public tenders in progress or in the phase of documentation preparation) and 0.02 million euros (0.02%) have been effectively spent to date.This project will enable the construction, by December 2030, of modern headquarters for the Calafat, Corabia, Filiasi, Simleu Silvaniei, Valenii de Munte, Oravita courts and of the Sibiu Tribunal, the completion of micro works necessary for the restoration of the LAN communication networks at the headquarters of 93 courts throughout the country, the continuation of the design of Bucharest's Justice District, the archiving and digitization of the passive archive of the Bucharest Tribunal, and various support measures in the field of judicial and extrajudicial assistance, including the possibility of creating a new profession in Romania (the community paralegal), by a similar model found in other European countries (the Netherlands, Denmark, Norway, the Republic of Moldova), but also on other continents (Canada, New Zealand).The Justice Ministry also refers to the preparation of the Justice District Project, which is in the stage of the feasibility study and the expropriation moves.To date, contracts have been signed for approximately the entire value of the financing agreement, in a cumulative amount of approximately 2.44 million US dollars out of the 2.5 million dollars available (97.58%), of which 2.02 million US dollars (80.8%) have been effectively spent to date, the cited source shows."The funds were used over 2020 - 2024 for the full development and approval of the Feasibility Study (which accounts for 50% of the complete design documentation that will be used in the execution of the works), and the draft Government Decision was also prepared for the approval of the technical and economic indicators and the initiation of the expropriation of the private properties in the area of the Justice District investment project," the Justice Ministry reports.The rest of the previously contracted amounts can be spent until November 30, 2025 (with the possibility of a one-year extension), notably for the effective conduct of the expropriation and for the restoration of the cadastral documentation and the post-expropriation land registers.There are also other priorities related to the Justice District, which will continue over 2025-2026 and which refer to the continuation of negotiations with the World Bank and the Council of Europe Development Bank, in cooperation with the Finance Ministry, for the financing of the necessary civil works through a separate project and loan agreement estimated at a total 926 million euros, to which Romania's contribution of approximately 385 million euros will add. (Photo:https://www.just.ro/)