Even if the objective of the contract for the concession of the Chisinau International Airport was to develop the airport infrastructure and the quality of the provided services, an audit mission of the Court of Auditors identified shortcomings and incongruities. The report was examined in the meeting of the Parliament’s public finances control commission on March 3, IPN reports.

Under the contract, the concessionaire was to invest at least €244.2 million in stages, depending on the rise in the flow of passengers served by the airport. The second airport modernization stage was to start in December 2017 and the investments at this stage were to total €115.5 million. The works to build the new terminal were to start until December 31, 2018 and to end by December 31, 2022.

The audit mission established that the monitoring of the implementation of the public-private partnership agreement was formal and based only on the data provided by the private partner. After the assets of the state-run Chisinau International Airport were conceded, the Public Property Agency didn’t make sure that this will have the assets needed to continue work.

The audit mission’s head Sergiu Știrbu said that 22.1 million lei of the total investments of 1.210,06 billion lei made by Avia Invest in long-term assets in November 2013 – August 2019 represented capitalized assets related to loans and financial leasing. The audit team considers the inclusion of the interest rate into the category of investments is inopportune given that loans to third parties were provided in the period in favorable conditions and interest-free.

The operations and management of the Chisinau International Airport were transferred to Avia Invest in November 2013 under a public-private partnership contract valid for 49 years.