A joint venture of Itinera, Saipem and ICM has won a contract worth about €700 million to design and build Lot 4 of the A8 "Unirii" motorway in Romania. Compania Națională de Investiții Rutiere (CNIR), Romania's National Road Investment Company, awarded the contract on July 2, 2026. Itinera leads the group with a 40% share, Saipem holds 35%, worth about €245 million to Saipem directly, and ICM holds the remaining 25%.
The route
Lot 4 runs about 21 kilometres and connects Iași, in north-eastern Romania, with the Republic of Moldova. Roughly 5 kilometres of the route sit inside Moldovan territory. The scope covers about 14 structures, including bridges, viaducts and underpasses, plus three interchanges. Two tunnels are part of the design: a 500-metre cut-and-cover tunnel and a twin-bore tunnel about 1.7 kilometres long.
Part of a longer motorway
Lot 4 is one section of the wider A8 motorway, planned to link Târgu Neamț, Iași and Ungheni across more than 300 kilometres of Romania once complete. The route sits within the Trans-European Transport Network (TEN-T), the European Union's framework for connections between central and eastern Europe. Funding for the project comes through the European SAFE (Security Action for Europe) programme.
Local track record
All three partners already work in Romania, extending relationships rather than starting fresh in the country. Itinera, controlled by ASTM Group, the world's second-largest toll-road concession operator with about 6,200 kilometres of network, has built the Satu Mare bypass and the Bucharest Ring Road there; the Romanian award adds to a backlog of €6.7 billion and 2025 revenue of €2.3 billion at Itinera. Saipem operates the Neptun Deep gas development offshore in the Black Sea and runs a technology center in Ploiești focused on welding techniques, so the road contract adds construction work outside its core energy markets. ICM, in business for more than 100 years and active in 19 countries, has kept a local office and operating team in Romania.
