An inhabitant of Bălți said a number of lots in the local Central Park were illegally sold to business entities that perform different commercial activities there. According to Nicolai Usatyi, a public road was also sold. He noted the transactions were illegally performed by officials of the Balti mayor’s office as the park is a facility with protected states and cannot be privatized.

In a news conference at IPN, Nicolai Usatyi said the privatization was launched 20 years ago when the Balti mayor’s office sold a public road, which was the only one that led to a river. As a result, his access to his property was barred. He had to go to court to ask that the legality of such an act be checked. The case is now pending at the Supreme Court of Justice.

The man said he studied many documents and learned that the officials who served at the Balti mayor’s office earlier and the current functionaries in time sold lots of land in the Central Park at very low prices and the locals weren’t asked if they want something to be built in the park.

Two cafes worked for many years in the Central Park. One of these was reconstructed and extended considerably. Nicolai Usatyi said he made multiple approaches to the local elected officials and warned them about this problem, but things didn’t change even if a commission was set up to examine the case.

Ion Ștefăniță, director general of the Agency for Monument Inspection and Restauration, said the Park in Balti has the status of protected facility dating from 1918. Therefore, it cannot be privatized. “The law on culture and the law on the administration and denationalization of public property contain articles saying the historical cultural heritage is protected in the Republic of Moldova and cannot be privatized,” he stated.

The Agency examined the cases of sale of land in Balti. According to Ion Ștefăniță, in this case there are offense components and if the law enforcement agencies apply the two laws, the persons involved in the given shames will be held accountable and the lots will be expropriated. The Agency’s jurist will become involved in the ongoing trial.

Starting with 2010, the Agency for Monument Inspection and Restauration has inventoried the facilities with protected status, including those situated in the municipality of Balti. As a result, over 5,500 state-protected facilities were added to the Register of State-Protected Monuments of the Republic of Moldova, including two parks of Balti, one of which is the Central Park.