Alina Oprea • 17 February, 2023 at 2:53 PM
The Bihor County Council approved a decision project for the development of a cycling route that starts from the Apuseni Mountains, connecting the counties of Bihor, Alba and Cluj with bike paths. The "VELO Apuseni" project involves the construction of 227 kilometers of bicycle paths, of which 99.3 km will be in the territory of Bihor county, 35.3 km in the territory of Alba county, and the remaining 92.4 km in Cluj county.
"Together with the other counties, we took the Apusenilor area as a common point, where the three arms of the tracks will intersect and from that point we go with the route in the county. If our track reaches, for example, Hidisel, it would be abnormal to leave it in the field. We will take it, from our budget, to the runway in Baile Felix, which is part of the Sanmartin Belt project. In this way, there will be continuity between the network of bicycle paths in the metropolitan area of Oradea Municipality. It would follow that by the beginning of March we should establish the list with all the new values and data and sign the financing contract during March, so that we can then finalize the feasibility studies and start the bidding procedures in each county", he stated Ilie Bolojan, the president of the Bihor County Council.
The estimated total value of the project in the three counties is RON 92,665,542.75, without VAT, the equivalent of €18.7 million. From this amount, Bihor County receives RON 40,536,072.23 (€8.1million) without VAT. The project is 100% financed by European funds.
The project will be financed through the National Recovery and Resilience Program (PNRR), from Investment I.4 "Implementation of 3,000 km of cycling routes at national level", Component 11 - Tourism and Culture.
The initially submitted funding request had in mind the development of an 823-km cycling route in the three counties, of which a 360-kilometer route would have been built in Bihor county. Following the evaluation by the Ministry of Development, Public Works and Administration of all the projects submitted at the national level, a limit of 227 km of routes was admitted in the counties of Bihor, Alba and Cluj, representing 27.6% of the initial proposal.
In 2021, a partnership agreement was concluded between the Bihor, Alba and Cluj County Councils for the development and tourism promotion of the karst area of the Apuseni Mountains, through which the three parties agreed to achieve several objectives of common interest.