The Ministry of Transport and Road Infrastructure ended the contracts with the companies from Azerbaijan and the Czech Republic that were contracted to repair the Chisinau – Ungheni road, Minister Iurie Chirinciuc confirmed for the press, quoted by IPN.

Chirinciuc said the volume of works executed so far based on the two contracts does not exceed 5% of the planned one at a time when almost 50% of the works should have been performed already.

“We often discussed with the representatives of the two firms and agreed that they will present a plan for recovering the lost time by September 1. But the situation didn’t change. I convinced myself of this when visiting this road almost daily,” stated the minister.

According to him, the given companies received an advance of €8.5 million, but carried out works to the value of at most €1 million. “They should have invested this money in construction works, but used it elsewhere. The contracts envision penalties. The Republic of Moldova will not sustain losses,” said Chirinciuc.

The procedure for terminating the contracts is long. When it is over, a new tender contest will be announced. The minister voiced hope that the contest will be held by this yearend so that the new contractors could start work next February or March.

Under the contracts signed with the companies from Azerbaijan and the Czech Republic, the repair works on the Chisinau-Ungheni road were to be completed next summer.