Fiodor Ghelici says that the Republic of Moldova is suspected of unjustified waste of financial resources provided by taxpayers of the United States and the European Union. According to him, an investigation into the construction of the Leova-Bumbata border crossing point revealed a series of deviations.
Fiodor Ghelici is the ambassador and resident representative of the International Organization for Educational Development (IOED) in the Republic of Moldova and Ukraine, head of the Regional Headquarters in the Republic of Moldova for Belarus, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Moldova, Romania, Turkey, and Ukraine. He is also the official representative of IOED to the UN in Geneva, the representative of the International Congress for Protecting the Rights and Freedom of Citizens SHELD in the Republic of Moldova, as well as the representative of the International Diplomatic Union.
“We have thoroughly studied the construction of the Leova-Bumbata border crossing point. We had meetings with local public authorities, representatives of the Customs Service, the Border Police and of other relevant bodies, both of the Republic of Moldova and Romania. Following the international investigation, we came to the conclusion that there are more questions than answers. First of all, Moldova did not coordinate the project to build the Leova-Bumbata border crossing point with the Romanian side in terms of the flow – what transport flow is planned,” Fiodor Ghelici stated in a news conference hosted by IPN.
According to him, the state spent around 300 million lei, of which more than half was used for useless facilities, like an enormous parking lot of about 13,000 square meters intended for large trucks, which is covered with weed because the weight of the crossing transport units is limited.
“During the construction works, the dam on the Prut River was destroyed and a risk of flooding is faced not only by the checkpoint, but also by the population of Leova and nearby localities. A parking lot with over a hundred places for heavy trucks was built, but this is definitely not needed as, according to the technical requirements, units of transport weighing up to 3,500 tonnes can cross the checkpoint set up by the Romanian side, on this pontoon,” stated Fiodor Ghelici.
For example, following discussions with officials of the Leova-Bumbata checkpoint, says Fiodor Ghelici, it was found that they work in not really appropriate conditions. The frontier post cannot be put into operation, including because a roof is not built, which is extremely important to ensure thorough customs control, especially in rainy weather.
Note: IPN Agency offers the right of reply to persons who consider that they were targeted in the articles produced based on the statements of the organizers of this press conference, including by facilitating the organization of another press conference in similar conditions.
