SA “Apă-Canal Chișinău” (ACC) is in a precarious situation and this is due to the fact that the current water charge does not cover by far the operational costs and obligations of the operator. Also, the company faces difficulties following the signing in 2013 of loan agreements with the EBRD and EIB in conditions that are unrealizable for ACC, the company’s director general Irina Gutnic stated in the meeting of the Chisinau Municipal Council, IPN reports.

“The precarious situation in which “Apă-Canal Chisinau” is now is the result of a charge that does not cover by far the operating costs and obligations of the operator. Therefore, measures should be immediately taken - actually they should have been taken yesterday or better in 2015 - to identify solutions to stop the financial decline of “Apă-Canal Chișinău”. Why in 2015? Because that year the impact of the loans raised by “Apă-Canal Chișinău” from the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development and the European Investment Bank in conditions that are not realizable for ACC started to be felt,” stated Irina Gutnic.

According to her, the loan agreements with the EBRD and EIB to the value of €24 million each were signed in 2013. Such loans should be signed by the Government or at least by the municipality. The conditions imposed by the banks could not be met by ACC from the start and the company ultimately reached the current situation.

Irina Gutnic noted that two of the most important conditions imposed by the banks and that cannot be fulfilled by the operator are: adjustment of the water charge, which is within the remit of the regulator not of ACC, and possession of a sum of 2 million lei in the ACC accounts, which are permanently blocked.

In another development, the company’s director said that the water supply and sewerage sector is also in a state of emergency, as the energy sector is. Therefore, in November the water supply and sewerage services provided to the inhabitants of the municipality of Chisinau by ACC could be stopped.