Bicaz
| Bicaz | ||
|---|---|---|
| Town | ||
|
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 Location of Bicaz |
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| Coordinates: 46°54′39″N 26°5′28″E / 46.91083°N 26.09111°ECoordinates: 46°54′39″N 26°5′28″E / 46.91083°N 26.09111°E | ||
| Country |
 Romania
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| County | Neamț County | |
| Status | Town | |
| Government | ||
| • Mayor | Nicolae Sălăgean (Social Democratic Party) | |
| Area | ||
| • Total | 148.9 km2 (57.5 sq mi) | |
| Population (2002) | ||
| • Total | 8,643 | |
| Time zone | EET (UTC+2) | |
| • Summer (DST) | EEST (UTC+3) | |
Bicaz is a town in Neamț County, Romania situated in the eastern Carpathian Mountains near the confluence of the Bicaz and Bistrița Rivers and near Lake Bicaz, an artificial lake formed by the Bicaz Dam on the Bistrița. Bicaz used to be a border town until 1918. Six villages are administered by the town: Capșa, Dodeni, Izvoru Alb, Izvoru Muntelui, Potoci and Secu.
Before the construction of the dam (1950–1960) the settlement was just a mountain village in Eastern Carpathians where the main economic activity was timber harvesting. By tradition, the tree trunks were linked together, forming a raft (pluta); a raftman (Romanian: plutaş) used to drive the raft on the Bistriţa river downstream to wood processing facilities in Piatra Neamț.
Building the dam created also a horizontal industry: two cement and aggregate plants were built in Bicaz proper and nearby Tașca. This, together with the construction of a hydroelectric power plant in Stejaru (10 km to the east) triggered a relative economic boom during the communist period.
Bicaz cement plant was shut down after the Romanian Revolution of 1989 and is slowly being taken apart. On the other hand, the Tașca cement plant was acquired by the German group HeidelbergCement and completely overhauled. The town has also a few timber factories and wood processing facilities.
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Wikipedia