Anatol Salaru highlights priorities in transport and road infrastructure

The Ministry of Transport of Road Infrastructure plans to build four highways during the next four years. Chisinau - Giurgiulesti, Chisinau - Soroca - Ungheni, Chisinau - Sculeni and Chisinau- Dubasari – Tudora will enable access to the pan-European networks, Minister of Transport Anatol Salaru said Thursday at a meeting dedicated to the professional carriers' and road worker' day marked on Sunday. He confirmed that the transport sector has been seriously affected by the crisis. The volume of passenger and freight traffic has decreased significantly. The condition of the roads is poor. Only 20% of the roads meet the European standards, while 90% of them have the working life expired. Such a state of affairs causes loses not only in the transport sector, but also in trade. One third of the carriers say the roads became an obstacle hindering the commercial operations. “The Government plans to increase the road fund's share in the GDP to 1.5%. It is a minimum condition imposed by the international organizations, which will enable to attract European structural funds to build and rehabilitate the roads,” the minister said. He stated that at a recent meeting with officials of the IMF, the WB and other development partners, it was agreed that the road fund should be separated from the budget. The road taxes paid by the motorists should be transferred directly to the road fund, not the budget. Anatol Salaru also said that the price of the Green Card should be reduced as in Moldova it is the highest in Europe and two times higher than in the neighboring countries. The road taxes and excises on gasoline could be increased in order to augment the road fund. The system for financing road works must be improved by modifying the law on the road fund so that 80% of the excises on fuel and the road taxes be collected into a special account, the minister said.