Construction is set to start this year on a 980m suspension bridge over the River Danube from Braila to Macin in eastern Romania. Premier Adrian Nastase held a meeing in Beijing this week with China Road & Bridge Corporation president Zhou Jichang to discuss the US$300 million project. It will be built as a build-operate-transfer scheme with Chinese finance backed by the Romanian government. The next few months will be spent finalising the cost and identifying sources of materials and local companies to participate. Details will be confirmed in May with a view to signing the contract in June. The three year construction period is due to start in the third quarter of 2004.