Turkish company ONUR Taahhüt Taşımacılık İnşaat Ticaret ve Sanayi A.Ş. has submitted the most economically advantageous bid and is expected to receive the contract for the construction of the Cimișlia bypass road. The company, however, has a controversial record: in May 2026, ONUR and 53 of its subsidiaries were sanctioned by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) over collusive practices in a tender in Ukraine.
According to a notification sent to bidders on August 7, ONUR’s offer for the Cimișlia bypass was declared the most economically advantageous. The company was also deemed qualified and capable of carrying out the works.
The contract is expected to be worth €43.3 million, including a contingency reserve. The estimated implementation period is 915 days, or approximately two and a half years.
Four bidders participated in the tender. ONUR initially submitted a bid of €44.16 million, which was subsequently evaluated at €39.43 million. Turkey’s ANT İnşaat Maden Sanayi submitted an evaluated bid of €46.8 million, the consortium of Azerbaijan’s NWC and Moldova’s Nouconst offered €47.96 million, while Ukraine’s Avtomagistral-Pivden submitted a bid evaluated at €48.9 million.
ONUR’s evaluated offer was therefore almost €7.4 million lower than that of the next competitor.
The award has not yet been finalized. The National Road Administration’s official website still lists procedure RSP/W15/02 as being at the “Bid Evaluation” stage, with no final contract award notice published. The August 7 document therefore represents a recommendation to award the contract, rather than confirmation that an agreement has already been signed.
Sanctioned following a controversial Ukrainian tender
On May 21, 2026, the EBRD announced a three-year and three-month sanction against ONUR and 53 of its subsidiaries. The sanction includes a one-year-and-three-month exclusion from EBRD-financed projects, followed by two years of conditional non-exclusion.
The EBRD’s investigation found that an improper arrangement had been made with the aim of securing a contract for ONUR in violation of the bank’s procurement rules. The company admitted responsibility and cooperated with investigators, factors that contributed to reducing the sanction, according to the EBRD.
Ukrainian investigative media identified the case as a €65 million tender organized in 2020 for the rehabilitation of sections of the M-05 Kyiv–Odesa highway. The publication Nashi Groshi reported suspicions that ONUR representatives had learned the price submitted by competitor Avtomagistral-Pivden, allowing them to submit a bid approximately €100,000 lower.
The contract was subsequently deprived of financing by the EBRD and the European Investment Bank.
The EBRD did not officially characterize the case as an attempted bribe, but rather as a collusive practice. Therefore, an attempted bribery cannot be presented as an established fact in the absence of an official finding to that effect.
Asked to comment, Infrastructure Minister Vladimir Bolea said the Cimișlia tender is organized by the financial institutions providing funding for the bypass project. He stressed that the Ministry of Infrastructure has no involvement in the tender or in selecting the winning company.
Why was ONUR not excluded from the Moldovan tender?
The notification on the results of the evaluation shows that ONUR disclosed sanctions imposed by other financial institutions. According to the document, the situation was examined, but the sanctions do not extend to the current procedure because the company was not sanctioned by the European Investment Bank (EIB) and there were no grounds for excluding it from the tender.
The Cimișlia bypass project is financed by the EIB, under the Moldova Roads III B program.
The bypass will be approximately 7.4 kilometers long and is intended to divert transit traffic away from Cimișlia, reducing congestion and improving road safety.
ONUR has previously carried out road works in Moldova. The Turkish company built the M3 Porumbrei–Cimișlia road section, also financed by the EIB. The new tender could now give the company the opportunity to continue the route by constructing Cimișlia’s actual bypass.
Sanctions imposed by international financial institutions
ONUR and its 53 subsidiaries have been excluded by the EBRD from projects financed by the bank for one year and three months. The exclusion is in effect until August 20, 2027, after which the company will enter a two-year period of conditional non-exclusion, during which it must comply with the EBRD’s established integrity requirements.
The EBRD sanction has also been recognized under cross-debarment mechanisms by other international financial institutions. As a result, ONUR may be ineligible for projects financed by institutions including the World Bank, African Development Bank and Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, among others.
The company is explicitly listed in the AIIB’s sanctions registry, with the exclusion running until August 20, 2027.