Founding of the municipal enterprise “Chisinau Parking” to develop the parking sector and earn money from parking, creation of jobs and extension of the network of schools and preschools are among the priorities of the candidates for mayor general of the municipality of Chisinau Dragoș Galbur, Ion Ștefăniță and Oleg Burlacu. These were presented in the first round of electoral debates staged by ProTV Chisinau. Each of the three candidates expressed their conviction that they deserve to hold the post of mayor of Chisinau as they have the necessary experience and team to solve the problems faced by the city, IPN reports.

The candidate for mayor of the Moldovan National Party Dragoș Galbur said that he is an upright person and does not represent political entities led by discredited persons, persons in conflict with the law.  If he is elected mayor of Chisinau, he will bank on financial support from the EU and Romania.

“I’m one of the youngest candidates for mayor general of Chisinau. I definitely have more energy and bring innovation as I come from the diaspora. I formed part of the diaspora the last few years and want to replicate in Chisinau the nice things I saw in London, Dublin and also in Romania, where I worked. I don’t represent a political party led by convicted persons who caused damage to the national budgets. We, as an EU candidate state, bank a lot on European funds and on the funds coming from Romania. The rhetoric question is: if you are in the European Union and Chisinau asks for funds, won’t you check to see who the mayor who asks for funds is and what party this represents? That’s why it is important to choose an upright mayor,” stated Dragoș Galbur.

The candidate of the Party “Respect Moldova Movement” Ion Ștefăniță said that he has solutions to decongest the city and solve the problem of illegal parking places. An affiliated enterprise under the management of the City Hall should be founded to deal with the setting up of pay parking lots.

“To ease traffic, the transport network should be managed appropriately. The building of underground passages would help decongest the area around the North Bus Station and Calea Ieșilor St and other congested urban spaces. To solve the problem of parking places for the about 350,000 units of transport we have in Chisinau, we need an area equal to 60 national stadiums. I see these spaces inside urban yards, in underground areas. Furthermore, parking lots can be set up in industrial areas. We suggest creating the municipal enterprise “Chisinau Parking” for the City Hall to develop the parking sector and earn money from this urban infrastructure. If the City Hall does not have money, as it happens often, a public-private partnership can be established for private entrepreneurs to develop this business,” stated Ion Ștefăniță.

The Liberal Democratic Party’s candidate Oleg Burlacu said that he has the experience needed to manage the Chisinau City Hall as in 2022-2023 he served as deputy mayor of Sector 5 of Bucharest.

“Out of 27 candidates, only two candidates effectively worked in the local public administration, in the executive. When someone contends for the highest post in a city, this should be a professional who can start work the next day and will not analyze for four years how things stand in the local public administration. For the youth sector, we suggest creating the social housing program for the young people not to leave the country. We propose creating jobs and decent work conditions in preschools and secondary schools,” noted Oleg Burlacu.

The debates are organized by ProTV Chisinau channel in partnership with Promo-LEX Association, the Association “Journalistic Investigations Center”, the independent online publication “NewsMaker”, “My Mayor’s Office” Association, IPN News Agency and the portal “Privesc.eu”.