BUCHAREST, Oct. 16 (Xinhua) -- A large part of Romania's budget next year will go to construction, the local Ziarul Financiar daily reported on Monday.

    The Romanian government has set infrastructure, education and healthcare as priorities of the 2007 budget, the daily said.

    The government has scheduled to spend some 6.6 percent of GDP, or 7.1 billion euros (8,9 billion U.S. dollars) next year, the daily said.

    A large part of the budget, or 2.5 billion euros (3.1 billion U.S. dollars), will be poured into the construction market, through infrastructure projects related to road, railroad, school and healthcare.

    The money is fuelling the already strong demand on the construction market, boosting its growth at a pace of about 15 percent in 2007.

    The government has 400 million euros (500 million dollars) set aside in next year's budget for highways alone.

    "The major infrastructure projects have to speed up, because we are doing the worst in this respect of all the countries that joined the European Union," says the vice-chairman of European Union of Developers and House Builders Razvan Niculescu-Aron, who is also a Romanian.

    In his opinion, highway construction will become the driving force behind the growth of the construction market in Romania in a few years, given the condition that the funds allocated to the Transports Ministry have this segment as a priority. Enditem