CROSSBORDER RURAL DEVELOPMENT

A CHANCE FOR FUTURE

GIURGIU COUNTY

Geographical Outline

The territory of Giurgiu County lies in the Romanian Plain and is situated in southern Romania stretching on 3.500 square kilometres. Two thirds of its borders are natural, of which 72 km coincide with the state frontier on the river Danube.

Its neighbours are Teleorman County in the west, Dambovita in the north, Ilfov in the north-east and Calarasi in the east. The relief features consist of plains with altitudes varying between 40 and 140 meters and the meadows of the Danube and Arges-Sabar.

Its relief is formed by 5 main units of the Romanian Plain: Burnas, Vlasia, Gaveanu - Burdea, Titu and The Danube Lunca.

In the 19th century works began on the hydrographical basin of the Arges to develop a navigable canal and to improve the land.

The Giurgiu County hydrographical net is composed by the Arges River with its main affluents Dambovita, Sabar, Neajlov and the Danube River. The local rivers are: Ilfov, Calnistea si Pasarea.

The maximum altitude is of 136 m, in the North of the county and minimum is 12 m, in the Danube Lunca.

The climate is temperate-continental, the average yearly temperature being of 11°C. In the Giurgiu area, the Danube exercises a considerable influence on the weather, more than 80 sunny days being recorded yearly, while the average temperatures in summer vary between 20 and 23°C.

Minimum natural reserves are represented by the oil deposits from the northern part of the County (Cartojani, Gaiseni, Roata de Jos, Marsa, Floresti-Stoenesti, Buturugeni, Gradinari, Bolintin-Deal).

Forests take up more than 10 percent of the county’s surface, some of them being labelled as natural reserves: Comana, Manafu and Alghelesti-Bucsani.

 The soil is favourable to agriculture, with the exception of some meadow areas. The population recorded a spectacular boom in one century (1831-1930), from 45,000 to nearly 270,000 inhabitants.

 In the last six decades demographic variations ranged between 300,000 and 325,000 inhabitants, with a decreasing trend of late.  Nearly a quarter of the county’s population is concentrated in the municipality of Giurgiu (approximately 75,000 inhabitants) which in 1835 numbered only 2,000, 16,000 in 1910, and 36,000 inhabitants in 1956.

The natural reservations are Comana and Manafu Forest.

 The main international objective at Giurgiu is the Bridge of Friendship, inaugurated in 1954, that assures railway and road connections with the Balkan countries.

 Besides economic and administrative units, research in irrigation (Baneasa) and viticulture (Greaca) are also worth mentioning. There are six high schools in the county seat and three in the county (Bolintin Vale, Calugareni and Hotarele), plus numerous primary schools, a music and fine arts school, a students’ club and two school museums.

The health network features the County Hospital, in operation since 1871, while in the rural environment there are some hospitals that have celebrated one hundred years of existence. New institutions for disabled persons were created and others were modernized.

 The most important cultural establishments in the county are the County Museum “Teohari Antonescu” (established in 1934), the Valach Theatre, the County Library “I. A. Bassarabescu” and the Culture House “Ion Vinea”. The major religion is the Romanian Orthodox faith, and, along this line we should mention the Comana Monastery, reconstructed in 1992, after having existed for well over four centuries (between 1460 and 1864).

Giurgiu boasts six periodicals, a local radio station and two cable television stations, several cultural magazines as well as two printing houses.. The basic economic branch in Giurgiu County is agriculture.

 The agricultural surface stretches on 277,00 hectares of which 259,000 hectares are arable. We should also note that in the county there are 37,000 hectares of wood and 2,940 hectares of fisheries.

 The arable land is excellent for cereals, technical plants, vine, poultry and animal rising. The agricultural activities are supported by an institute of agricultural research for irrigation and a viticulture research and production institute.

The County of Giurgiu has irrigation facilities with buried pipes and pressure system, with sprinkler and bed irrigation possibilities.

 The municipality of Giurgiu, situated on the mid course of the Danube, at the crossroads of most important water and land communication ways, only 60 kilometers away from Bucharest, is representative for the county’s industry. Thanks to its geographic position, Giurgiu is an open door to fruitful trade relations with the Balkan Peninsula and the Middle East. Likewise, Giurgiu is the main gate in southern Romania to and from important international traffic corridors, from the north and the south, the south-east, and the south-west to the counties in the east, centre and west of Europe.

Lying in the middle of the Romanian sector of the Danube, Giurgiu benefits from the water transportation facilities on this important river that assures the connection with the Black Sea, through the ports of Constanta and Sulina for the eight riparian countries. Starting 1993, when the Danube-Maine-Rhine Canal was commissioned, the connection with the West-European countries and the North Sea, through the Rotterdam port was also achieved.

Under Government Resolution the Giurgiu Free Zone was created, which stretches on 153 hectares and is bordered on three sides by water (the Danube and two navigable canals).

 The Giurgiu Free Zone benefits from:

 –          the existence of infrastructure constructions;

–                    the existence of superstructure works both for commercial areas and for industrial productive areas;

–                    the existence of infrastructure for communication, optic fibre telephonic lines and a digital telephone exchange.

The area includes a petroleum terminal with a 350-m mooring. The storing capacity of the terminal is of 50.999 t of various petroleum products, being the only of this type on the Romanian bank of the Danube.

Tourist Information

The Giurgiu County is situated in the Southern part of Romania, on the middle course of the Danube River, as a part of the Romanian Plain. The Southern border of the county washed by the Danube on a length of 72 km gives it the possibility to have river connections (including the way to the Black Sea) with the Danube countries from the Central and Eastern Europe.

 Since 1993 when the Rhine-Main-Danube was finished, an opening to the West-European countries was created being possible to reach the North Sea via Rotterdam. The Giurgiu-Ruse road and railway bridge, the only permanent cross over the Danube to Bulgaria, offers also connections to the countries of Central Europe, from and to the Balkan Peninsula and Middle Asia.

The Giurgiu County has a diversified industrial production, but being situated in a predominant agricol region its main wealth consists in agricultural activities (cereals, vegetables and vine). The opening of the Free Zone of Giurgiu, the short distance to Bucharest and Bulgaria offers new opportunities in the development of the county. The natural landscape, interesting historic places offers some points of attraction to tourists.