The bill on internal navigation on the Prut and Nistru Rivers will cause damage to the ecosystems of the main rivers of Moldova. According to a group of ecologists, this bill will serve as a pretext for legalizing the extraction of sand, grit and gravel from rivers. In a news conference at IPN, the ecologists called on the authors of the bill to add a paragraph to it so as to ban the non-reimbursable and commercial extraction of solid sediments and to institute punishments of five to ten years in jail for their sale.

“If the sale of sediments from rivers is banned, the great interest in Moldova’s fluvial fleet will fade away,” said the head of the Ecologist Movement of Moldova Alecu Renita, who coordinates the working group on environment of the National Participation Council. According to him, the alluvium will be extracted and sold on the pretext of cleaning and preparing the riverbeds for navigation. Thus, the ecosystems of the rivers will be destroyed.

“Some of the firms want to dig out as much raw material as possible,” said Alecu Renita. He added that these extractions will destroy the riverbeds and will cause landslides. The authorities should better deal with the supply of the population with drinking water rather than allow destroying the ecosystems of the rivers that provide the country with water.  

According to Eco-Tiras director Ilia Trombitski, who is a member of the working group on environment, in 2012-2013 they sent a number of warning letters to the authorities, asking not adopting the bill without the suggested amendments, but all in vain. The parliamentary commission on environment was also against passing the bill in its current form. Besides the mentioned risks, there is also the danger of a larger number of fish dying. Also, the drinking water may get dearer.

The bill on internal navigation on the Prut and Nistru Rivers was submitted by the Ministry of Transport last August. It was adopted by Parliament in the first reading.