Minister of Economy and Infrastructure Anatol Usatyi said the privatization of Moldova’s Railways should not be discussed at present, given the situation in which the company is now. According to him, if this is done, Moldova’s Railways will be sold at the price of scrap metal. The minister noted that in the current situation, it is opportune to liberalize the services provided by the company, IPN reports.

“Given the current state of Moldova’s Railways, I don’t think we should follow this path now. The privatization is not yet discussed. The liberalization of the market can be discussed now,” Anatol Usatîi stated in the talk show “Black Box” on TV8 channel.

According to him, many companies buy locomotives and wagons and deal with transportation. “This infrastructure should be freed from monopolies when there is only one sender. Many companies bought wagons and I understood that even more wagons will be bought when new locomotives purchased with money lent by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development and the European Investment Bank will come,” explained the minister.

Anatol Usatyi noted that a detailed and extensive analysis in the railroad sector was carried out given that the state could borrow funds from the EBRD and EIB. It was ascertained that in some of the cases, the transportation of freight inside the country by rail is much more expensive than by road.

He also said that there is no final list of state-owned enterprises and companies that will be privatized even if the 2020 state budget includes revenues from privatization. There are facilities that will not cost much if they are denationalized at present. A study of the World Bank is expected so as to decide as to the privatization of a number of facilities.