Itinera-led venture wins approximately €700 million A8 motorway package

A joint venture of Itinera, Saipem and ICM won the design and construction contract for Lot 4 of Romania's A8 Unirii Motorway, according to Saipem's announcement of 2 July 2026. Romania's National Road Investment Company, CNIR, awarded the package. Its total stated value is approximately €700 million. Saipem's share is approximately €245 million, which should be distinguished from the value of the contract awarded to the full joint venture.

Itinera leads the venture with a 40% interest, followed by Saipem with 35% and ICM with 25%. The motorway section extends approximately 21 kilometres, including about five kilometres in the Republic of Moldova, as described by the release. The package links the Iași area in northeastern Romania with Moldova and combines road construction with a substantial programme of bridges, tunnels and associated junction works along the corridor.

The announced scope includes approximately 14 structures such as bridges, viaducts and underpasses, together with three interchanges. It also includes a 500-metre cut-and-cover tunnel and a twin-bore tunnel approximately 1.7 kilometres long. These elements make the package more than a straightforward road-surfacing contract. The design-and-construction responsibilities cover a section whose delivery requires coordination of different civil structures and the connections between them.

The wider A8 initiative is intended to connect Târgu Neamț, Iași and Ungheni over more than 300 kilometres. Saipem places the route within the Trans-European Transport Network and identifies the European SAFE programme as the funding channel for the announced project. The larger corridor length is contextual: it should not be confused with the roughly 21-kilometre section awarded to the Itinera-led venture under this particular announcement.

All three partners already have activity in Romania. The release cites Itinera's road projects, Saipem's Neptun Deep offshore development work and welding technology centre in Ploiești, and ICM's local operating presence. Those references explain the consortium's existing footprint without expanding the awarded scope. The July event is a new civil-infrastructure contract with defined partner shares and a specified motorway section. Construction progress, opening to traffic and delivery of the wider A8 corridor would be later milestones requiring separate confirmation rather than assumptions derived from this award.

Sources

1. The JV between Itinera, Saipem and ICM awarded a contract worth approximately €700 million for the construction of Lot 4 of the A8 Motorway in RomaniaCompany releaseSaipemPublished 2 July 2026Read 28 October 2026

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