● MONDAY, March 20
Chisinau Airport to have new runway
The Chisinau International Airport will have a new landing strip as of May 2018, Avia Invest director general Petru Jardan and director of the Civil Aviation Authority Radu Bezniuc told a news conference. The building works were estimated at €15-16 million. The works on the new runway already started. This will be 2,400 meters long and 45 meters wide.
Entrepreneurs from six states to meet at Economic Forum in Arad
Small and medium-sized enterprises from Moldova, Romania, Bulgaria, Serbia, Italy and Hungary will take part in the first Economic Forum on SMEs that will be staged by the Interregional Advocacy and Diplomacy Center in Romania’s Arad on April 21-23. It is intended both for enterprises from the transfrontier region and for institutions and organizations that support SMEs. President of the Interregional Advocacy and Diplomacy Center for Moldova Adrian Furculita said the first edition of the Forum will focus on economic development in regional and international context, social transfrontier dialogue, economic cooperation between light industry enterprises, agriculture, real estate sector, etc.
Voice traffic decreased for first time in past few years
The volume of voice traffic and the total volume of sales of mobile phone services in 2016 witnessed a decline, for the first time in the past few years. It happened amid the increase in the number of users of these services. The statistics brought together by the ICT regulator ANRCETI show the volume of voice traffic in 2016 decreased by about 107.5 million minutes (-1.7%) on 2015 and totaled 6.2 billion minutes. Sales declined by 159.2 million lei (-4.4%) and came to about 3.4 billion lei. The number of users of telephone services rose by 105,800 (+2.4%) to 4.4 million.
● TUESDAY, March 21
AIPA to be reorganized
The Agency for Intervention and Payments in Agriculture (AIPA) will be reorganized based on the law concerning the main principles of subsidization in agriculture and rural areas that was adopted by Parliament on December 16, 2016 and was published in the Official Gazette on March 3, 2017. The AIPA will have the status of self-managing public institution with own budget and bank accounts. Now the Agency is an administrative authority.
300 km of local roads to be repaired as of April
The works to repair the first local road segment within the almost US$80 million program financed by the World Bank begin in April. In a news conference it was announced that US$ 4 million will be allocated for repairing 53 km of the Cornesti – Sinesti – Cornova – Oniscani – Raciula road. World Bank Country Manager Alex Kremer said eight local road corridors of almost 300 km were selected for being repaired.
More people signed tenancy agreements last year
The number of people in Chisinau municipality who lease out lodgings has increased, according to the data of the State Main Tax Inspectorate. The authority said that 2,220 tenancy agreements were signed in 2015, as opposed to 2,328 in 2016. A number of 451 leases were signed during the first two months of this year. The private individuals who lease out something should know that if they don’t carry out entrepreneurial activities they should pay a tax of 7% of the value of the lease, in accordance with the Tax Code. The persons are obliged to register the agreement at the local tax office within three days of its signing. The relevant tax is paid monthly, by the date of 2 of the month in progress, or in advance.
Ungheni – Chisinau gas pipeline to be built by end-2019
The construction of the Ungheni – Chisinau gas pipeline will be completed in December 2019. The technical project will be designed by this August. Investments are expected to total €113 million, Minister of Economy Octavian Calmac stated in public debates centering on the headway and challenges in implementing the legislation in the energy sector staged in Parliament. According to the minister, the Ungheni – Chisinau gas pipeline will be declared facility of national interest so as to simplify the procedures for expropriating the plots that will be crossed by the pipeline and for obtaining certificates and other necessary documents.
● WEDNESDAY, March 22
Renewable energy sector witnesses slow dynamics in Moldova
The renewable energy sector in the Republic of Moldova sees slow dynamics, shows a study presented by the independent think tank “Expert-Grup”. Biofuels represent over 98% of the renewable energy. The private sector is involved in the production of electricity based on the use of aeolian and solar energy and biogas, but these account for only about 0.5% of the renewable sources of energy, according to the information for 2015. Among the causes that determine the low presence of businessmen in the renewable energy sector are the excessive investment costs and bureaucratic procedures.
Authorizations for international road transport to be issued online
Authorizations for the transportation of goods and persons could be obtained electronically through the information system “Transport e-Authorization”. Minister of Transport Iurie Chirinciuc said this system will facilitate the operators’ access to permissive documents and will notify the operator of the possibility or impossibility of satisfying the submitted application in real time, by indicating the reason for the eventual refusal. The provisions concerning the exclusive use of the information system “Transport e-Authorization” take effect on January 1, 2018.
Executive approves changes to Law on Limited Liability Companies
The persons who will inherit the right to own a holding in a limited liability company will be able to get the equivalent value of the holding if the inheritor’s quality of new associate is rejected by the associates of the Ltd. A limited liability company is founded and works based on the will and mutual confidence of associates. The associates can reject the quality of new associate of the inheritor of the holding, but the rejection should not affect the property right of the latter.
● THURSDAY, March 23
Lab for testing water, soil and plants to be set up with IFAD support
A laboratory for testing water, soil and plants in accordance with the European standards will be created in Moldova with financial support from the Inclusive Rural Economic and Climate Resilience Program (IFAD), which offers a grant of US$95,000 for purchasing modern equipment for express tests.Director of the IFAD Consolidated Programs Implementation Unit Victor Rosca stated that IFAD is to choose the grant beneficiary and applications can be submitted by this yearend. The lab will finance itself with money earned from the provided services.
Naval Register and Giurgiulesti Port Captainship to form Naval Agency
The state-owned enterprise “Naval Register” and the public institution “Giurgiulesti Port Captainship” will be merged to form the Naval Agency of the Republic of Moldova. The Naval Agency will work out and put into practice the state policies on maritime transport and internal navigable ways, will monitor the implementation of international agreements on naval transport and will ensure the functionality of the Giurgiulesti Port Complex. The Agency will be controlled by the Ministry of Transport and Road Infrastructure, but will be a self-financing institution with an autonomous budget.
Fewer people use cable TV services
The cable TV operators have fewer subscribers. Statistics show the main development indicators on the pay TV services market in 2016 continued to decline, as during the past three years. According to the ICT regulator ANRCETI, the total number of subscribers to pay TV services last year decreased by 5,300 on 2015 to almost 270,000. Sales revenues diminished by 5 million lei (-3.2%) to 151.7 million lei.
● FRIDAY, March 24
Deposit guarantee ceiling increased
The deposit guarantee ceiling in case of private individuals will rise from 6,000 to 20,000 lei. If a bank goes bankrupt or is liquidated, this sum will be paid to each depositor, no matter how many deposits they had. A bill to this effect was passed by Parliament in its March 24 sitting.
The bill was drafted by unaffiliated MPs Iurie Leanca, Eugen Carpov and Stefan Creanga. According to them, the initiative is aimed at protecting bank depositors. The project comes into effect from january 1, 2018.
First biomass energy cluster created in Moldova
A biomass energy cluster was established on March 24, following Romania’s model, to promote the development of the biomass energy sector through advocacy, research, international cooperation. Twenty-three organizations got together to boost biomass energy sector, with the support of the European Union. The cluster will embrace private companies, public authorities, research institutions, universities, active associations of green energy sector. The goal of the EU funded Energy and Biomass Project is to ensure the establishment of a sustainable biomass market in the Republic of Moldova.
● SATURDAY, March 25
Clandestine line for producing corn seeds discovered in Todiresti
A clandestine line for producing corn seeds that were later sold under the trade name of the Phitotechny Institute “Porumbeni” was identified in the central storehouse of the state-run company Experimental Station “Chetrosu” in Todiresti village of Criuleni district, which is going through an insolvency process. The illegalities were determined by members of a commission set up to inspect the fields managed by the state-run company that is controlled by the Ministry of Agriculture and Food Industry.
