The Moldova Millennium Challenge Fund has launched a contest to select a construction company that will reconstruct three irrigation systems on the Prut River – in Blindesti, Ungheni; Grozesti, Nisporeni, and Leova Sud, Leova. The woks will be executed within the Compact Program of the Millennium Challenge Corporation that is financed by the U.S. Government, IPN reports.

Moldova Millennium Challenge Fund executive director Valentina Badrajan told a news conference that the irrigation systems on the Prut were put into operation in the 1970s and are partially functional as their wear and tear degree is high. The electro-mechanic equipment will be replaced with modern equipment. The systems will be outfitted with electronic pump monitoring devices. The water distribution networks will be substituted with high-density polyethylene pipes.

About 1,300 agricultural producers work in the area covered by the three irrigation systems. After rehabilitated, the systems will irrigate over 2,600 hectares of farmland and will enable then to extend the irrigated areas by up to 1,300 hectares.

The construction companies can submit tenders by September 30. They will be examined by national and foreign experts. The systems will be rehabilitated by 2015.

The rehabilitation of the irrigation systems is one of the objectives of the Compact Program signed by the Government of Moldova and the Millennium Challenge Corporation, in the name of the U.S. Government, at the beginning of 2010. The US$262 million Compact is implemented by the Moldova Millennium Challenge Fund.