Civic activist Mihail Bagas said he resigned from the post of vice director of the municipal cleanup enterprise “Autosalubritate” owing to the pressure exerted on him because he openly stated his opinions about some of the politicians and the waste management policies in the municipality. There are persons who want to destroy the enterprise and who were bothered by his work.
In a news conference at IPN, Mihail Bagas said that “Autosalubritate” is self-managed and is not financed from the municipal budget. In such conditions, it works as a business entity, but it was founded by the Chisinau Municipal Council and cannot thus work out its own policies and does not independently approve the tariffs for the services it provides. The enterprise is not competitive as the private companies that provide similar services charge lower tariffs. The debts to “Autosalubritate” amount to 24 million lei, 12 million lei of which are current debts.
“Autosalubritate” provides services in Chisinau and in six suburban communities. On December 31, 2019, it had over 23,000 contacts for the provision of services, more than 15,000 of which were signed with private individuals. Of the about 110,000 entrepreneurs operating in the municipality of Chisinau, only almost 8,000 signed contracts with this enterprise. In some of the cases, the business entities use the services of private waste collection companies, while others create unauthorized waste dumps.
Mihail Bagas noted that during his short term in office, he made multiple field trips and established that a large quantity of the waste collected by private companies was taken to the landfill in Boșcana village of Criuleni district. “According to the information of the enterprise and of the municipality, the waste dump in Țânțăreni is the only one authorized according to standards. But I accidentally found out that there is also an authorization that belongs to the landfill in Boșcana at a time when those in the municipality pay millions of lei to the authorities in Țânțăreni. The authorization says that this landfill is intended for Chisinau and a number of suburban settlements,” stated the activity, adding that another company obtained authorization to take waste to Boșcana.
The former vice director said there are no legal reasons that would enable to penalize or oblige business entities to sign contracts for the collection of waste. Also, the formulas for calculating tariffs for the volume of waste produced by business entities were approved over 30 years ago.
