March DIGEST. Most important news articles of IPN "Chișinău” news flow
March 4: The Embassy of the People’s Republic of China in Moldova donates US$100,000 to the Chisinau City Hall for helping the Ukrainian refugees. According to Mayor Ion Ceban, the money will be spent in a transparent way for managing the situation now that the City Hall is maximally involved in the effort to help the refugees.
March 9: Two playgrounds will be set up in Râșcani district of Chisinau this year. The General Public Amenities Division of Chisinau announced a tender contest to choose the contractor that will execute the works. The two playgrounds will be built in the parks “Râșcani” and “Dumitru Râșcanu” in accordance with a modernization project that is implemented by the Râșcani district head’s office. There will be placed slides, swings and towers. Fitness grounds will also be laid out in the two parks, including for persons with disabilities.
March 10: Approximately 1,500 stray dogs will be neutered in the capital city this year. The General Public Amenities Division of the Chisinau Municipal Council launched two tender contests to choose veterinary clinics that will sterilize the dogs. The stray dogs will be captured based on requests made by citizens. Later the animals will be taken to veterinary clinics where they will be sterilized, cleaned, vaccinated against rabies, microchipped and then returned to the initial place. The aggressive dogs will be taken to animal shelters or will be put up for adoption after they are sterilized.
March 11: Ten new trolleybuses assembled at the workshop of the Chisinau Electric Transport Company started to run on routes. The AKSM trolleybuses were produced in Belarus. The new trolleybuses will replace older vehicles and will run on routes No. 3, 8, 12, 21, 22 and 24. Another ten new trolleybuses are being assembled and will begin to be used in the near future. The cost of a trolleybus assembled in Chisinau is €165,000.
March 14: More than 17,000 families have received heating subsides from the Chisinau City Hall since the start of the heating season. Another 3,200 families benefited from subsidies for natural gas. For November, the municipality allocated 5.6 million lei for providing heating compensations, while in December – 8.2 million lei. In January, the paid subsidies came to 13.7 million lei, while in February to 12.3 million lei. The payments are made on time and the subsidiary is calculated and indicated in the bill.
March 14: The Chisinau City Hall has launched a platform to provide inform ion and help Ukrainian refugees called help.chisinau Those interested can use this to obtain information about services, placement centers, medical assistance, activities for children, jobs, bank details for making donations to refugees, the things needed by refugees and about possibilities of becoming volunteers.
March 15: As many as 7,175 apartments and private houses were put in commission in the municipality of Chisinau in 2021, an increase of 19.6% on 2020. The total area of dwellings made available for occupancy last year was 523,500 square meters. In 2021, there were issued 1,862 permits for erecting residential and nonresidential buildings, up 1.7 times on a year before. 80% of the real estate market is concentrated in Chisinau.
March 17: The organization Plan International offered 500 schoolbags for refugee students who go to education institutions in the municipality of Chisinau. The donation was made following a request from the Chisinau City Hall to help the public authorities cope with the refugee crisis.
March 17: A center for distributing donations for refugees will open on Thursday in Chisinau’s Riscani district, in the building that previously housed the Lukoil movie theater. Representatives of placement centers can pick up the donations, as well as refugees directly. All the donations come from members of the public, foreign embassies or the City Hall’s partners. They include clothing and bedding, food and hygiene products.
March 18: More than 38,000 trips were paid without cash during the first year of implementation of the project to introduce cashless payments in public transport in the capital city that was launched by maib in partnership with Mastercard and the Chisinau City Hall a year ago, on March 16, 2021. For the trolleybus trip, the cost is 2 lei, and for the bus trip - 3 lei. No additional commissions are charged for contactless payments. On February 12, it was launched the second stage - installing stationary validators, which already operate in the trolleybuses running on route No. 30 and in the buses running on route No. 37. Now, passengers can pay for the journey independently on these routes.
March 18: The Chisinau City Hall approved a framework calendar of cultural events and fairs planned to be staged in the municipality in 2022. The events start this weekend, on March 19. A series of fairs will be held later, mostly on the weekend, including of berries, of honey products, of handcarts and handmade items, of Easter products, of school supplies, of wine products, of fir trees and a Christmas fair at the end of the year.
March 21: New playing equipment will be set up in 50 yards of apartment building in the municipality of Chisinau. The General Public Amenities Division has announced a tender contest for the purpose. Instead of the old equipment dating from the Soviet period, there will be put up new playing complexes that include slides, swings, figurines on spiral arches. Later, the playgrounds will be surrounded with low fences. The 50 playgrounds were chosen according to the requests made by dwellers and the district head’s offices. Bids can be submitted during March 28 – April 7. The winner of the contest will be announced on April 20.
March 21: Rehabilitation work has started on one of the largest pedestrian underpasses in Chisinau, located at the intersection of Ion Creangă Street and Ștefan cel Mare Boulevard, near the Pedagogical University. The total cost of the repair is about 4 million lei. Half of the amount is the contribution of the Chisinau City Hall, with the other half coming from Romanian city of Galati. The project includes reconstructing the stairs and installing ramps for people with special needs. The ceiling, the walls and commercial spaces will be rehabilitated, the lighting system will be modernized, and the drainage system will be cleaned. Also, video surveillance will be installed.
March 21: Repair works on Tighina and Alexandru cel Bun streets in the central part of Chisinau will start in two days, and on August 31 street on April 10 the latest. The order to start the repair works on Tighina and Alexandru cel Bun streets was issued last week, and the corresponding order for August 31 Street will be finalized in a couple of days. These projects, with a total value of over 250 million lei, will be launched and will be completed expeditiously. On Alexandru cel Bun Street, the first stage of the repair will be carried out on the section between Ismail and Tighina streets. On Tighina Street, work will start in the perimeter of Alexandru cel Bun Street and Ștefan cel Mare Boulevard.
March 23: A program of assistance for youth centers and councils was launched in Chisinau to strengthen institutional capacities so as to enable the youth services to develop and expand. The newly launched program is aimed at creating youth centers in all the districts of the municipality of Chisinau and at empowering youth workers from all these centers. An objective is to organize the program of grants for Youth Centers of the municipality of Chisinau. As part of the program, five local youth councils in the districts of Chinua will be created and/or empowered. There will also be created or empowered ten youth councils in suburban settlements.
March 25: The municipality suggested a reference fare of 6 lei for trips by public transport in Chisinau. The fare will be lower in the case of season tickets that will now be issued for periods of one month to half a year. The fare of 6 lei is proposed both for trips by bus and by trolleybus in the capital city and in the suburban settlements. In the case of a one-month season ticket, the price of a trip will be 3.9 lei, of a three-month season ticket – 3.3 lei, while of a six-month season ticket – 2.7 lei. The municipality plans to extend the list of persons who benefit from free trips.
March 26: An additional lane is being built at the intersection of Calea Orheiului St and Studenților St in Chisinau to help ease traffic towards the exit from the capital city. The gravel is now being spread and the curbs and paving are being placed. In the same district of Chisinau, a public lighting system was installed in the pedestrian areas of “Râșcani” Park and parking places are being built there. Sidewalks will be constructed on both sides of a section of Kiev St.
March 28: Besides accommodation infrastructure, the Chisinau City Hall developed a hub of services intended for refugees at the temporary placement center set up at “Patria - Lukoil”. Mothers and children housed by families or who live in rented accommodation go there daily and ask for assistance or for different information. The Ukrainian refugees can have a hot lunch and can benefit from medical assistance there.
March 28: If the fare in urban public transport is not raised, the municipality will have to pay almost 1 billion lei subsidies to the Electric Transport Company and the Urban Bus Company or both of the companies risk going bankrupt. Mayor Ion Ceban said the urban transport fares haven’t been modified since 2009. The reference fare of 6 lei per trip was calculated according to a methodology worked out by experts, which contains clear formulas. “In 2011, the subsidies for public transport came to slightly over 50 million lei, while last December to over 700 million lei. With these soaring fuel prices, we will incur costs of 1 billion lei.
March 29: The Chisinau City Hall has inaugurated the One-Stop Shop that integrates the information document management platforms E-management and E-petitions. This way, the official correspondence and the petitions filed by citizens will be managed through the two platforms, based on a system for examining electronic petitions. The One-Stop Shop serves both private individuals and legal entities. The applicants here can also ask for permissive documents in the building sector, which are issued by the General Architecture, Urbanism and Land Relations Division.
March 31: Over 90 persons monthly asked for an ambulance in the municipality of Chisinau during the first three months of the year because they were bitten by stray dogs. Karl Luganov, acting head of the Animal Protection Unit of the General Public Amenities Division, said the problem of stray dogs can be solved in three-five years. To control the population of stray animals, sterilization projects need to be implemented in the suburban settlements of Chisinau too as the aggressive dogs identified there cannot be taken to “Autosalubritate”. Behavior towards animals should be humane and responsible. Statistics show 6-8 persons are daily attacked by stray dogs in Chisinau and the victims include children. The Unit’s employees should take measures to prevent such cases, but they rather defend the rights of animals. The stray dogs should be found an owner or should be kept in special places where they do not pose threats to humans and are safe themselves.
