Greenpeace has accused Romanian President Traian Basescu of supporting the construction of a new road to pass the Retezat national park in the Retezat Mountains. The construction works at Road 66A restarted on Thursday despite a local prefect had announced in November 2006 the suspension of the works until their legality is cleared.

The road is due to link the city of Petrosani to the Baile Herculane resort in SW Romania.

The head of state has visited the site several times since his presidential campaign in 2004. A Greenpeace press release received by HotNews.ro claims Basescu has proven his lack of knowledge on environment protection and his “interests” in the area, considering that he said these works “were very dear” to him during a visit there in October last year.

Greenpeace claims the beneficiary of the works - the regional road department for the Western Romanian city of Timisoara - is running the works at parts of the road illegally as it doesn’t have the necessary environmental approvals or the approval of the Retezat park authority.

The Retezat park hosts a rare forestry landscape and a significant wildlife.