Amid the competition with shopping centers and stores located nearby, which can be accessed by walking to them, the Central Market of Chisinau, owing to the lack of parking places, lost over 30% of the buyers. This negatively affects the economic situation of the municipal enterprise. The number of buyers declined and some of the business entities stopped renting selling places there. Currently, up to 60 kiosks and more than 1,000 trading places at counters are free, the enterprise’s director Ion Pantea said in the meeting of the Chisinau Council, referring to the decision to build a parking garage on the territory of the Central Market, IPN reports.

Ion Pantea related that the Central Market, being situated downtown, is to provide parking places for the visitors. Initially, there was carried out an urbanistic study that envisions the creation of about 118 parking places, including 4% for persons with disabilities, on the streets Armenească, Mitropolit Vaarlam and Tighina.

A draft decision was proposed for modifying the decision of August 2020 concerning the approval of the conception for the modernization of the Central Market. This refers primarily to two annexes regarding the organization of trading places in the handicrafts sector and of elevator-type car parking systems. As such systems cannot be set up, it is considered the possibility of building about 400 parking places in the handicrafts sector so as to ease traffic near the Central Market, explained Ion Pantea.