More than 710 street lighting bulbs will be installed in the cities Cantemir, Soroca and Ocnita during two years. The project is supported by the European Union with €400,000, while the contribution of local public authorities is €100,000, IPN reports.

This initiative aims to assist the settlements to address energy efficiency, enhance energy security and economic growth, Alexandre Darras, of the Operations Section of the EU Delegation to Moldova, said in a new conference held to present the project.

Tanya Daniel Lujanskaya, head of the Alliance for Energy Efficiency and Renewables (AEER), which is the local coordinator of the project, said that the mayor’s offices that signed the Covenant of Mayors, which aim to save energy and reduce CO2 emissions, were selected for the project. “We expect the saving to represent about 50% of the cost of street lighting,” she stated.

Acting mayor of Soroca Mihail Grabciuc said that 70% of the city is lit. Owing to this project, there will be light on almost all the streets of the city.

Mayor of Ocnita town Galina Zalevscaya said the lighting of streets will contribute to reducing the crime rate.

A number of other activities will be carried out during the project, such as training of local governments by an international consultant , transfer of know-how by the manufacturers of technologies, public awareness events, etc.