The Chisinau Municipal Council (CMC) exceeded its authority when it instituted a moratorium on the construction of gas stations. However, the State Chancellery informed the Council that it must partially modify the given decision, the representative of the Law Division of the Chisinau City Hall Valeriu Bogdan said in the public discussion platform “Urban Dialogues”, IPN reports.

Chisinau councilor Ion Stefanita said the petrol stations in the capital city are too many in number because the municipal authorities issue certificates and authorizations without the business entity having all the necessary documents.

The representative of the Architecture and Urbanism Division Stefan Gheorghita replied that all the gas stations in Chisinau were located in accordance with the Local Urbanism Regulations, while the Division can ask the companies to present only the documents required by the law and no others.

Larisa Osoianu, of the General Trade, Food and Services Division, said they issues functioning authorizations to retail units and they will take into account the moratorium imposed by the CMC in this process.

Projects expert of the National Environmental Center Iuliana Cantaragiu stated that the organization she represents identified multiple violations of the legislation in the process of issuing authorizations for building petrol stations.

It was noted that the exaggerated number of gas stations is due to the fact that the local authorities class these stations as commercial facilities, not as dangerous industrial facilities. Therefore, there is no limit on the number of petrol stations and these will continue to increase in number if the approach is not modified.

On February 18, the CMC decided to introduce a one-year moratorium on the construction of several gas stations in Chisinau. These are being erected on the streets Calea Iesilor, Nicolae Dimo, Mihail Sadoveanu, Melestiu, and Renasterii.