The activity of companies which provide geosynthetic materials and of the ones which perform special works - geotechnical and foundations - will be sustained this year by the engineering projects mainly financed from European funds and the state budget, according to the opinions expressed by managers of the main competitors from these two segments. On the geosynthetics market are active relatively few specialized companies, the most important ones being Naue, Tencate, Iridex, Trading, Geo.Com.M International SA, Stefi Primex, the infrastructure division of Rehau Polymer and B2B Consprod. All these companies recorded an annual turnover of about 80 million EUR, according to the data published on the portal of the Ministry of Public Finance. Meanwhile, on the geotechnical and foundations market are active 25 companies, most of them having foreign capital. Among the market leaders are Bauer, Edrasis Construct, Keller Geotechnica, Octagon, Soletanche Bachy, Terratest Geotehnic, Willemen Carpati and Züblin Romania. The year 2012 was marked by several political unrests, which had, unfortunately, a negative impact on all economic sectors, including on the geosynthetic and equipment suppliers, according to the information of Naue Romania, a leading supplier specialized in the sector. "This influence has materialized in the underfunding of the construction projects as a result of political and system bottlenecks, delays and cancellations of public auctions, as well as delays in payments to the construction companies which perform public works", said Bogdan Tronac, general manager of Naue Company. Given the difficult market context, the managers from the field estimate a stagnation of the activity on the short and medium term. However, the experts from the industry are optimistic in what concerns the prospects for long-term development, given the urgent need of enlargement for communication routes (motorways, national / regional roads, railways, etc.), investments for which geosynthetic materials are widely used. Another segment that will continue to support demand in the market is represented by the organic waste disposal projects. For further information and a detailed analysis of the current Agenda Constructiilor issue click here!