The crowding reported at the entrance to Romania shifted from the Nadlac II Border Crossing Point (PTF) to the Nadlac I PTF where, on Friday morning, the waiting time was four hours.

Spokesman of the Arad Border Police Filip Ionut Matei told AGERPRES that six entry lanes are used at the Nadlac I PTF, however, in the context in which Hungary allows that the country be transited only during night time, on a special corridor, many vehicles reach the Romanian border in a short time interval.

"As of Thursday, 20:00hrs, all cars have been redirected from Hungary's territory toward the Nadlac I PTF. We mention that the cars already at Nadlac II at the respective hour were able to transit the border through this crossing point. Currently, the crowding is determined by the large number of vehicles coming in for checks in a short interval, as well as by the epidemiological triage," Matei said.

He added that the average of the transits in this period is similar to the one of last year, but, in the current epidemiological context, the procedures for each person last up to ten minutes, compared to 30 seconds - 1 minute before the measures to limit the spreading of COVID-19 were introduced.

The Interior Ministry (MAI) announced on Thursday evening that traffic through the Nadlac I PTF was opened as of 20:00hrs only for cars, which will make traffic for trucks through the Nadlac II PTF swifter.

According to a MAI release, Interior Minister Marcel Vela had a phone conversation on Thursday evening with his Hungarian counterpart Sandor Pinter, in the context of the joint efforts to identify the best solutions in view of making the traffic swifter through the common border crossing point, Nadlac II PTF, which has been set as a transit corridor for road transport.

"Taking into account the high waiting times registered at certain time intervals, in view of improving traffic flow at the Nadlac II Border Crossing Point and for the proper functioning of the 'green corridor', the Romanian side proposed that this crossing point be exclusively used by trucks and freight traffic, the traffic of persons being directed toward the Nadlac I. The Hungarian Minister agreed this proposal, and the technical details have been immediately established at the level of the border police leaderships of the two states," the release mentions.

Traffic Police teams will accompany convoys of maximum 10 vehicles, which will be taken over from the border and escorted to the counties of destination by each county police or gendarmes inspectorates on the route. AGERPRES (RO - author: Mariana Buga, editor: Irina Poenaru; EN - author: Rodica State, editor: Adina Panaitescu)