A potential earthquake could seriously affect Moldova’s capital full of unauthorised constructions

The problem of unauthorised constructions in Chisinau is serious and a possible earthquake would have serious consequences on the city, the secretary of the Chisinau Municipal Council Vladimir Sarban considers. At a City Hall’s meeting on unauthorised constructions in the municipality, it was decided to carry out a comprehensive study in this area and submit to the Chisinau Municipal Council a draft decision or regulations that would contain all the necessary provisions to solve the existent problems and manage the respective area more efficiently. Meanwhile, the Chisinau City Hall is not disposed to tolerate the unauthorised construction, with Mayor General Dorin Chirtoaca saying that the local public authorities should react more promptly and efficiently when they have to deal with unauthorised or problematic constructions. According to Vladimir Modarca, the chief architect of Chisinau, the local authorities identified several factors that contribute to the appearance of unauthorised constructions in the city. One of the factors, he says, is the difficult procedure for issuing urbanism certificates and construction authorisations as a result of which these documents are issued with delay. In this connection, Modarca proposes abrogating an ordinance by the former interim mayor Vasile Ursu of 31 July 2006. The ordinance bans the district head’s offices from issuing urbanism certificates and construction authorisations. Another factor that reflects badly on the situation in the area is a Government Decision of 2004 that bans constructions in the historical zone of the city. Under a recent ordinance by the Mayor General, the disctric heads shall make sure that all the building sites in the municipality of Chisinau install boards informing about the nature of the construction.