JANUARY DIGEST. Most important news articles of „IPN Chișinău” news flow
January 2: The residents and guests of Chisinau are invited to celebrate Christmas according to the old calendar, on January 6, in the Great National Assembly Square, where a performance of folk music and Christmas traditions involving national artists will be given, starting at 6 p.m. Mayor general Ion Ceban, in the ordinary meeting of officials of municipal services, said that the “Folklore” Folk Music Orchestra led by first conductor Petre Neamtu will perform together with the following soloists: Vasile Iovu, Nicolae Palit, Silvia Goncear, Vasile Rusu, Anatol Nunu, Viorica Moraru, Sorin Zberea, Diamanta Paterău, Valentin Butucel and Valentina Rusu, Maria Stoianov and Buciumul Studio, Chisinau Brass Band with Igor Rusu and “Romanita” Folk Ensemble.
January 2: The number of cases of pneumonia in Chisinau continues to increase. Last week, the figure was by 25% higher than a week before and over 63% of all the cases of pneumonia were in children. In the ordinary meeting of officials of municipal services, Vladimir Bolocan, deputy head of the Medical and Social Assistance Division of the Chisinau Municipal Council, said the increase in the number of cases of pneumonia exerts pressure on the pediatric institutions in Chisinau. Even so, they cope with the situation yet.
January 2: Budgetary authorities and institutions, public institutions under self-management, municipal enterprises managed by the Chisinau Municipal Council and joint stock companies in which the CMC holds a share of more than 50% will cut current costs for operating activities by at least 10% starting with January 1, 2024. The decision was taken by the Commission for Emergency Situations (CES) of the municipality of Chisinau.
January 4: The group of the Party of Action and Solidarity (PAS) on the Chisinau Municipal Council staged a flashmob meeting in front of the Chisinau City Hall. The participants demanded that funding should be provided for prolonged-hour groups of primary school classes in Chisinau. They carried multiple placards and chanted “We want groups with prolonged hours!”, “We want children to be safe!”, IPN reports.
January 4: A Church Museum is to be founded in the municipality of Chisinau. A draft decision of the Chisinau Municipal Council says that the initiative is necessary in order to preserve and valorize archaeological vestiges discovered as a result of archaeological excavations.
January 4: The municipality has announced that, in accordance with the current normative documents, the classes with extended hours remain functional. Also, officials of the local public administration said that MP Gaik Vartanean next week will register in Parliament a draft law on the allocation of financial sources for the functioning of groups with extended regime for educational institutions across the country, including the municipality of Chisinau.
January 5: The municipality suggests increasing the parking fee by 2 lei and the fee for advertising devices by 0.50 lei. The sanitation charge in the amount of 10 lei per month and the fee for dog owners in the amount of 120 lei annually will remain unchanged. This is provided in a draft decision on local taxes for 2024, which was proposed for public consultations.
January 5: The section of Ștefan cel Mare și Sfânt Stefan Blvd between Pushkin and Banulescu-Bodoni streets will be inaccessible to traffic on Saturday, between 2 p.m. and midnight. The measure is taken in connection with the artistic events organized by Chisinau City Hall in the Great National Assembly Square on Christmas Eve celebrated according to the Old Style.
January 6: A performance of folk music and winter traditions entitled “Christians, Christmas has come!” will be given in the Great National Assembly Square of Chisinau on January 6, on the eve of Christmas celebrated according to the older Julian calendar. According to the Chisinau City Hall, the folk music orchestra “Folklore” led by first conductor Petre Neamțu will perform together with the following soloists: Vasile Iovu, Nicolae Paliț, Silvia Goncear, Vasile Rusu, Anatol Nunu, Viorica Moraru, Sorin Zberea, Diamanta Paterău, Valentin Butucel and Valentina Rusu, Maria Stoianov and “Buciumul” Studio.
January 8: The Chisinau Emergency Commission has ordered a complete shutdown of schools and kindergartens until January 11 due to heavy snowfall. Municipal institutions will also remain closed, except for medical ones and public agencies involved in snow removal and deicing operations.
January 9: The circulation of public transport in Chisinau was resumed. The municipality announced that on Tuesday and Wednesday, trolleybuses and buses will run according to Sunday schedules, with small adjustments. On Tuesday morning, mayor Ion Ceban said that delays, disruptions and re-routing are possible. The responsible services are working on several road sections.
January 9: In the municipality of Chisinau, the number of acute respiratory tract infections last week grew by 30% or over 1,000 cases compared to the previous week. In the ordinary meeting of officials of municipal divisions, Vladimir Bolocan, deputy head of the General Medical and Social Assistance Division, said that due to the increase in the number of acute respiratory infections, especially among minors, the municipal hospitals for children are full.
January 9: In the municipality of Chisinau, the number of acute respiratory tract infections last week grew by 30% or over 1,000 cases compared to the previous week.In the ordinary meeting of officials of municipal divisions, Vladimir Bolocan, deputy head of the General Medical and Social Assistance Division, said that due to the increase in the number of acute respiratory infections, especially among minors, the municipal hospitals for children are full.
January 9: By Thursday, all kindergartens and schools in Chisinau must be ready to welcome children. The access roads nearby and the ways to the yard should be cleared of snow. If branches have fallen, these must be taken away on Tuesday and Wednesday. The subject was discussed in the ordinary meeting of officials of municipal services.
January 11: The Party of Action and Solidarity’s group from the Chisinau Municipal Council, together with personal assistants from Chisinau, mounted a protest in front of the Chisinau City Hall to express their dissatisfaction with the mayor general’s decision “to no longer conclude contracts with personal assistants”. The protesters demanded that the mayor should provide support for personal assistants and children with special needs who until now received financial support from the Chisinau Municipal Council, provided from the municipal budget.
January 11: The residents of Chisinau are strongly advised to store fir and spruce trees used during the winter holidays near household waste platforms. From there, the trees will be collected by specialized services of the Chisinau City Hall to be transported for recycling. The General Housing and Amenities Division said that the collection of trees for reuse has already become a tradition after the winter holidays. The trees will be transported in a centralized way to the biodegradable waste platform where they will be chopped and the sawdust resulting from the shredding will be used for organic compost.
January 11: After the recent heavy precipitation, icicles formed on the edges of building roofs in Chisinau. In this connection, the municipality calls on building owners to clear the roofs of snow so as to avoid the formation of icicles as these can cause injuries to people or damage to cars parked nearby.
January 12: Eight outstanding people from the fields of arts, architecture and academia have become honorary citizens of Chisinau for their contributions to the development of the city. They received their insignia during an event dedicated to the National Day of Culture.
January 13: A number of personal assistants from Chisinau on Friday constituted an initiative group demanding to annul the order to dismiss a series of personal assistants and halve the salaries of the remaining personal assistants. At a meeting held at the Chisinau City Hall, Natalia Hasan said that she has worked as a personal assistant for many years and this order is the last straw in the “genocide” committed so far in relation to people with severe disabilities. For years she fought for the rights of people with disabilities and was involved in creating legislation for the functioning of the Personal Assistance Service. And now these people are left to their fate.
January 15: The mayor of Chisinau Ion Ceban said the attacks against the City Hall and its employees have been stepped up the past two weeks. In his opinion, these are electoral actions of those who are in power. “Everyone understands that they alone create problems and then they take to the streets to protest. They use the people so cynically while committing illegalities and continue to rob as heavily,” Ion Ceban stated in the meeting of officials of municipal services. He noted that the real causes of the attacks are this year’s presidential election and the campaign that those who are in power have already started.
January 15: Workers of the General Housing and Amenities Division during January 9-13 gathered and took away 1,350 cubic meters of snow, the Division’s head Ion Burdiumov announced in the weekly meeting of officials of Chisinau City Hall’s services. Ion Burdiumov noted that the Division’s units cleared of snow sidewalks, public transport stations, underground passages, access roads to courtyards, social institutions and waste accumulation platforms.
January 16: The traffic on several streets in Chisinau on Tuesday morning was bumper to bumper. Due to ice, the movement of public transport was also affected. The Chisinau City Hall said that there are schedule delays and stops or rerouting on a number of routes. “The linear staff is there to provide information about re-routing or unexpected stops to the travelling public,” the municipality said.
January 17: The municipality of Chisinau called on the citizens to be understanding and cautious when moving on icy streets and sidewalks and on motorists to avoid sloping roads. Trolleybuses and buses run as usual, but there is an increased flow of passengers at stations as more people choose to travel by public transport. “Given the weather conditions with negative temperatures during the night, the municipal services started work at 02:30 a.m. Thus, the municipal housing services are carrying out works to remove ice on streets, sidewalks, near public transport stations, in parks and on alleys,” the City Hall noted in a press release.
January 19: From next week, the itinerary of the municipal minibus route No. 178 “Codru town (Sihastrului St) – Tighina St” will be different. The minibuses running on route no. 178 in Codru will set off from Sihastrului St (Î.P. “Vierul”) and will travel to the capital city along the streets Șoseaua Hâncești, Miorița, Gheorghe Asachi, Vladimir Korolenco, Nicolae Testemiţanu, Ion Inculeț, Ismail, Alexandru cel Bun, and Tighina.
January 19: The entire batch of 30 new EFE cars on Renault chassis, purchased within the “Solid Waste Chisinau” project, was delivered to the municipal road maintenance company “Autosalubritate”. The rear-loading trucks have a capacity of 13 cubic meters (10 garbage trucks) and 16 cubic meters (20 garbage trucks). The transport units are also equipped with Euro 6 diesel engines.
January 22: The municipality set fixed fees for groups with extended hours in the schools of Chisinau: 360 lei per month for a program extended by three hours and 690 lei for six hours. Payments will be made based on a bill issued by the institution. Children from socially vulnerable families will attend groups with extended program free of charge, the head of the General Education, Youth and Sports Division Andrei Pavaloi announced in the weekly meeting of officials of municipal services.
January 22: The heavy precipitation left numerous potholes in Chisinau. The municipality decided to plug these up with cold asphalt primarily on the streets where public transport runs. The subject was discussed in the weekly meeting of officials of municipal services. The head of the General Urban Mobility Division Vitalie Mihalache said that works were performed last week to fix the damaged sections. But the sleet and rain continued and potholes keep forming. Filling works were carried out on an area of 180 square meters. If the weather is favorable, the works will continue.
January 23: The Rascani district of the capital city has a new head. This is Victor Polyakov, a former Chisinau Municipal Council member on behalf of the Party of Socialists. “I officially took over as head of Rascani district of the municipality of Chisinau. I thank the Chisinau City Hall for their trust and the Party of Socialists for this opportunity. For me, the position of district head is, first of all, a responsibility. The responsibility to keep the best of what was inherited from the previous administration and to augment these achievements in the future,” said Victor Polyakov.
January 23: The village of Stauceni initiates the procedure for organizing a local referendum to confer the status of city to the locality. An order to this effect was issued by mayor Alexandru Vornicu. In a video, the mayor says that the status of city for a locality, particularly for Stauceni, will bring many benefits. In the context of the start of negotiations on Moldova’s accession to the European Union, the European pre-accession funds will become available this year already and the opportunities for cities will be much greater than for rural localities. The status of city will widen the possibilities of twinning with large cities. Bilateral relations of this kind offer even greater opportunities for accessing European funds.
January 24: The Chisinau City Hall has sued the Cabinet and the Ministry of Finance. According to mayor Ion Ceban, they want these institutions to be obliged to pay the debt of over half a billion lei created in the municipal budget as a result of the delegation of additional powers to LPA Chisinau without financial coverage.
January 25: The Commission for Exceptional Situations (CES) of Chisinau municipality took a decision concerning the organization and functioning of groups with extended hours in primary and secondary schools. The groups will work based on temporary regulations, which provide that the monthly fee for groups with a program extended by three hours will be 360 lei, while for groups extended by six hours – 690 lei.
January 25: Nine traffic signal intersections in the municipality of Chisinau were repaired in 2023, while two others were newly built. The Chisinau City Hall said that these are the intersections of the streets: A. Pushkin – Columna, Traian – Independenței, Alba Iulia – L. Deleanu, Alba Iulia – O. Ghibu, Alba Iulia – Paris, Kiev (Kaufland), M. Eminescu – A. Shchuev, M. Eminescu – Columna, M. Kogălniceanu – A. Pushkin, Ceucari (school), Vadul lui Vodă town (school).
January 25: A three-dimensional installation was placed outside the Chisinau City Hall as part of a public awareness campaign dedicated to the Holocaust Remembrance Week. Deputy Mayor Angela Cutasevici stated that with this action the City Hall joins the campaign to raise awareness among the Chisinau community of the tragic events that marked local and global history.
January 26: The municipality from January 30 to February 4 will organize a special bus route to provide transport to the visitors of the “Made in Moldova” exhibition, which will be mounted at the exhibitions center Moldexpo. Buses will run between 10 a.m. and 5 p.m. from near the central park of Chisinau. No fare will be collected for the trip.
January 26: The Commission for Exceptional Situations (CES) Chisinau ascertained that there is an exceptional situation in the education sector. In a decision, CES Chisinau says the orders by which the minister of education and research terminated the service relationship with the head of the General Division of Education, Youth and Sports Andrei Pavaloi are illegal. The CES Chisinau’s decision stipulates that until the court adopts a final decision on the legality of the minister’s orders, Andrei Pavaloi will continue to hold the post of head of the Division of Education of the Chisinau Municipal Council.
January 27: The role of education for peace and sustainable development was raised at a conference in Chisinau in connection with the International Day of Education. Deputy mayor Angela Kutasevich said that, given that armed conflicts and dangers that were previously foreign are now more common, given the war at the border, we understand how valuable peace is. It is important to talk to the growing generations about tolerance, friendship, interpersonal relationships that must be based on mutual respect, help and goodwill, the deputy mayor stated in the opening of the conference.
January 30: About 4,000 registration forms were completed at the Municipal Centre for Adult Learning and Education from June to December last year and approximately 1,900 citizens attended personal, professional and civic education courses and activities provided free of charge. Among the most popular courses were those in the English and Italian languages, basics of project writing, fashion design and modeling, digital skills development, photography, 1C accounting, business launch, oratorical art, etc.
January 31: State-of-the-art information systems will be installed in 18 trolleybuses running in the capital city. They offer information about the arrival time and name of the waiting station with opportunities for transfer to other routes (including buses). The location with the direction of travel in real time on the digital map is also presented.
