Romania funded 119 new nurseries through its EU recovery plan (PNRR), with a deadline of 30 August 2026. A finished building still does not tell you when your child can start. Find your locality, then follow three cities where the records trace the road from building to first child.
Romania · Ploiești · Cluj-Napoca · Sibiu Records checked through 5 November 2026
The 119 contracts for new nurseries are worth 1.96 bn lei. Each line below is one locality: how much of its contract value had been paid, month by month, since August 2022. The thick line adds up all contracts. On 30 August 2026, the completion deadline, payments had reached 66%, or at most 69% if every 2022–2023 payment without a component had been for nurseries. Between 31 and 33 localities had received less than half.
little paidfully paidall contracts, by value Hover over a line or click it.
The largest payments came after the deadline. September 2026 brought 147.4 m lei and October, up to the 22nd, 134.8 m lei: the largest monthly sums since the programme began. After 30 August, 306.9 m lei was paid. On 22 October, 18–19 localities still had under half of the money.
A payment is not a building. The ministry pays for invoiced work, often later, so a late payment does not prove late construction. Negrești, Vaslui County: on 29 July the ministry listed its nursery as “in construction – 21%”; by the end of July it had received 24% of the money, and by 22 October 85%. Ministry letter, p. 3
All 109 localities with a PNRR nursery contract. Search for your town or commune or click the map: see the value, how much was paid by the deadline and by 22 October 2026, and its line lights up in the chart above.
0% paidin full
Empty circle: no nursery payment recorded (Ștefănești; the town received other PNRR payments). Dotted outline: 2022–2023 payments without a component exceed a tenth of the contract, so the real share may be higher (49 localities have such payments, 69.9 m lei in all). Larger circle: larger contract. 30 localities show payments above the value in the contract list (VAT or amended contracts); they appear fully paid. Bucharest Sectors 2 and 6 are placed approximately, at the sector centre.
All 109 localities, as a table
PNRR nursery contracts (list of 14 November 2025) and payments to 22 October 2026
At Sfânta Ana on Aleea Strunga, the records follow the same building from acceptance to opening. A ceremony and the day children arrive can be different events.
Sfânta Ana · Ploiești
One chair represents one place
40 places in total. For a new application, what matters is how many remain after re-enrolment.
Symbolic diagram, not a floor plan. For Sfânta Ana in Ploiești, the table dated 22 May 2026 lists 40 places, 34 submitted re-enrolment requests and six places remaining for registration. See the table.
376
calendar days
30 October 2024 → 10 November 2025
Calculated from the records: opening date minus the date of the construction acceptance record. The interval does not establish how many days were avoidable or who was responsible for each stage.
Construction accepted
Date of the construction acceptance and handover records, cited in council resolution 47/2025.
Choose a building and follow its records in order. Every status is dated: an older notice does not establish what is happening today. These are documented cases in three Romanian cities, not a complete nursery directory.
Sfânta Ana
Ploiești · Aleea Strunga nr. 2B
Opening confirmed
40 placesAnnounced nursery capacity
The city announced that children were received on 10 November 2025. The six places in the May 2026 admissions table describe a past stage, not vacancies today.
The city announced that children were received on 10 November 2025. The six places in the May 2026 admissions table describe a past stage, not vacancies today.
Cluj-Napoca · Strada Borhanciului No. 121 (provisional address in the city certificate)
Admissions notice checked
110 placesAnnounced nursery capacity
The operator advertises applications until the end of November 2026. The sources reviewed did not establish a first day of attendance. Check current notices before applying.
Acceptance record No. 723143 of 14 August is cited in city certificate No. 275, issued on 24 September 2026. Acceptance does not establish when children began attending.
This is the status in the official notice of 2 September. It does not establish that the nursery is closed today. The same project’s 60 kindergarten places are separate.
The new building and the older nursery share an administrative structure. A start-of-year notice for the older nursery does not confirm that the 70 new places opened.
The council approves transferring a 29 m² parcel from the municipality’s private to its public domain for later consolidation. The report links this to a minimum five-metre distance from the property boundary.
Ploiești · Strada Cosminele No. 11A, lot 2 (in project records)
Design contract awarded
70 placesAnnounced nursery capacity
The 2022 design-and-build procedure was cancelled in April 2023. A later design contract was signed in September 2025. These records do not establish construction or opening. The address is absent from the seven-nursery table dated 22 May 2026.
Notice SCN1111787 concerns the medium-sized nursery on Strada Cosminele No. 11A, lot 2. The procurement documentation makes contracting conditional on funding.
A 225,250 lei design and technical-assistance contract with Tegra Plus, according to notice SCNA1125018 published on 4 September. Its description refers to the South-Muntenia Regional Programme’s requirements; this alone does not establish construction funding.
Children already enrolled can continue at nursery. On 22 May 2026, the seven nurseries in the municipal table had 249 submitted re-enrolment requests. The difference from total capacity was the offer for the next admissions stage.
Ploiești, 22 May 2026. Each chair represents one place in the stated capacity.
Remaining for registrationRe-enrolment requests
590places: total capacity
249submitted re-enrolment requests
341places remaining for registration
This is the offer on 22 May 2026, before later admissions stages. It is not a list of vacancies today. Re-enrolment requests are not a count of children attending.
The municipal operator’s table covers 12 school years. For 2026–2027 it lists 1,500 total places and 1,013 at registration. Choose a year to compare the offer with the reported outcomes.
Choose a year below for the complete figures.
Total capacityPlaces at registration
2026–2027: 1,226 applications, 982 children admitted and 244 rejected, according to the operator’s table.
The table does not explain each series’ cutoff, whether applications are unique, or differences between offered places and children admitted. In six years, admissions exceed the number of places listed at registration. For 2026–2027, the difference of 31 between the offer and admissions does not establish 31 vacancies.
For Borhanci, the operator’s notice gives an application deadline at the end of November 2026. Construction had been announced as complete on 11 August.
The 70-place nursery was inaugurated on 29 June 2026. On 24 September, the local council approved a step towards adding 29 m² to its site. The technical report explains why: the building permit required at least five metres between the building and its rear property boundary.
29 m²
municipal land approved for transfer from the private to the public domain, for later consolidation
Cadastral documentation accepted
The cadastral office accepts the parcel-division documentation.
The city registers the document
The council approves the parcel transfer
The minutes record adoption of resolution 350 with 22 votes.
The records establish this administrative step. They do not show that the parcel explains the entire wait or establish an opening day. No public cadastral plan was identified that would allow the parcel’s shape to be drawn.
One name, different buildings
The school network lists both the older Calea Poplăcii No. 11 address and the new building under Nursery No. 4. A notice about children returning to the old nursery can be mistaken for the opening of the new investment.
Piața Cluj: 30. Calea Poplăcii: 70. Viitorului: 110. On 2 September 2026, the city described them as completed investments, with authorisation and hiring needed before receiving children.
For your child, the relevant place is one offered now, at the right address and for the right age group. These four questions help you check a notice.
Which building will your child attend, and from when?Ask for the actual start date and building address. An inauguration or the name of a school structure does not answer these questions on its own.
How many places are for new children in the relevant age group?Ask what remains after re-enrolment and which admissions stage the number describes. Total nursery capacity can include continuing children.
Which admissions notice applies now?Check deadlines, documents and criteria with the nursery operator. The ministry says application order is not an admissions criterion. In Cluj, the inspectorate’s calendar allows midyear applications in exceptional cases when project-built nurseries or kindergartens are brought into use.
Who can confirm that the nursery can receive children?Ask the institution about authorisation, the start date and a contact person. A document you cannot find online does not establish that authorisation is missing.
A contract, an inaugurated building and an occupied place describe different stages. These documents also have different dates. The counts cannot be added or read as a series of places available to parents.
Dated national reports, with each measure defined
Count
What it measures
Date and interpretation
119
Recovery-plan funding contracts
Contracts reported by the ministry. They are not a count of open nurseries.
Nurseries financed through the national public and social construction programme are a separate funding stream. The 9 July reply separately reports 14 inaugurated and 99 under construction. They are not included in any total of operating places. Ministry reply.
The page links records describing the same building: council resolutions, acceptance records cited in official acts, opening announcements and admissions tables. Cases in Ploiești, Cluj-Napoca and Sibiu were selected because these histories can be followed publicly. They are not a representative sample of Romania.
Design capacity, operator-reported capacity, places offered for registration, applications, admissions and attendance stay separate. No child or parent names were collected. This is documentary research; it includes no nursery visits or telephone confirmations.
Sources were consulted through 5 November 2026. Document dates, event dates and dates checked are distinguished where they differ. An opening not confirmed in the sources reviewed remains unknown.
Why there is no current national occupancy rate here
In a parliamentary reply dated 29 July 2026, the Ministry of Development reported 1,070 occupied places out of 4,120 in nurseries funded by Romania’s recovery plan: about 26%. The reference date of the latest CNI report is not specified. The remaining 3,050 cannot be treated as vacancies offered to parents. Ministry reply, p. 3.
The distinction between construction and operation had already been reported, including by Factual. This page connects records by building and stage and explains the admissions numbers. Factual’s September 2026 fact-check.