The precarious situation of the water supplier SA “Apa-Canal Chisinau” (ACC) may be overcome by instituting a public-private partnership. This is opinion belongs to Jean-Patrice Poirer, the director of the South-Eastern Europe, Caucasus and Central Asia division of the French company “Veolia-Eau”, which has carried out a consulting research on ACC, Info-Prim Neo reports. The main objectives to be pursued by the future partner should deal with significantly reducing the olfactive pollution and improving services. These topics were tackled Wednesday at a sitting with decision-makers from the Chisinau City Hall. The company to be selected should develop an investment program to modernize and maintain the ACC's network. Another major objective is to modernize the water cleaning plant, which will first treat the water biologically to eliminate the unpleasant scent. Jean-Patrice Poirer says all those objectives should be attained by keeping the tariffs at a level bearable for the Chisinau residents. The study presented by the French experts provides for solving the ACC's problems in two stages. During the first 3 years, they should focus on the hottest issues as is the olfactive pollution. And the solution is to treat the mud. It needs 8 million euros to build such a plant, plus 3 million – the cost to operate it during one year. The second stage envisaged to last over 16 years, the public-private partnership should focus on rehabilitating the supply and drainage networks with an annual investment budget of about 5 million lei. In case the selected partner will be “Veolia-Eau”, the French experts will also provide training to the ACC employees, said the manager. The most important step is to fully modernize the waste water treatment plant, by creating a biologically treatment plant. The investment is deemed to be 70 million euros, but this money will not be able to be got from rising tariffs. Jean-Patrice Poirer suggests to seek for European non-reimbursable funds, as Bucharest or Budapest did. General mayor Dorin Chirtoaca has said, since the political situation in Moldova is delicate, there doubts as to the cooperation of the municipality with the central authorities and as to the finality of the project, consequently. However he insisted the re-construction of the water-cleaning station is one of the priorities of his administration, and it is possible only in the frame of a public-private partnership. The ACC manager, Constantin Becciev, has welcomed the study, but has pointed out a series of problems making it difficult. He opines the Municipal Council (CMC) cannot offer any guarantee to attract investment from international donors, neither is a possible state guarantee possible. The proposals to create a public-private partnership are to be discussed at a coming sitting of the CMC. The councilors will approve of the project. Then, a contest may be held to select a consulting company to organize an international tender to designate the company to carry out the public-private partnership. Earlier, speaker Marian Lupu had said the parliament was willing to modify legislation as to stimulate investments and cooperation with partners from abroad. Now the Economy Ministry is drafting a law on the public-private partnership to be considered by the Parliament till the end of this summer session. „Veolia Eau” is a water supplier, also building the necessary infrastructure. In 2007, its turnover was 10.9 billion euros. It employs 80,000 personnel in 66 countries.