A local councilor of Floresti, which is one of the six districts involved in the EBRD and EIB water supply program, accuses the company “Floresti Public Utilities” of obliging the people from a number of settlements of the district to buy the water meters installed within the program without legal reason.

In a news conference at IPN, Andrei Balan, Social-Democratic councilor in the Floresti District Council, said the grant component represents 66% of the program’s budget, while the loans - 34%. Under the signed contracts, the end-users were to pay the price of water meters gradually, with the cost being included in the water bill. But the company obliged the consumers to pay by 1,900 lei per meter. However, the costs for the meters continue to be included in the water bills and the end-users pay twice for the same thing.

Andrei Balan stated that the manager of SA “Floresti Public Utilities” heads the Liberal-Democratic faction in the Floresti District Council. The company purchased very expensive meters that turned out to be non-resistant. About 1,200 meters have been sold so far. Another 10,000 meters were stored and the program money earmarked for the rehabilitation of water systems was lost. No part of the Floresti water supply network was repaired even if over €1.6 million was allocated for the purpose. The water losses remain high.

The councilor said he made approaches to the Floresti mayor’s office and the Ministry of the Environment and both of them said that SA “Floresti Public Utilities” had no legal reason to collect taxes for installing the meters and payments for them. Nevertheless, the Floresti District Council refused to include the issue in the agenda.

Valerii Ceapa, resident of Floresti town, told the same news conference that the local authorities do not provide answers to people’s requests. Over 3,000 petitions have been submitted against SA “Floresti Public Utilities” and complaints continue to come.

Andrei Balan and Valerii Ceapa announced that they filed applications to the Prosecutor General’s Office and the National Anticorruption Center, asking that they examine the situation and order the dismissal of the company’s manager, if need be, and the refunding of the money collected from end-users.