All the approaches made by the mayor of Chisinau municipality for purchasing buses were fully nontransparent, with the legal procedure for holding public tender contests not being respected as there were held no hearings and public debates, said councilors of the Party “Dignity and Truth Platform” (PPPDA) serving on the Chisinau Municipal Council. According to them, Ion Ceban manages the city in an inacceptable way and commits illegalities, IPN reports.
In a news conference, councilor Aliona Mandatii said that some undertook Plahotniuc’s abominable practices to take revenge, persecute and blackmail for political reasons. A recent example is the unjustified and abusive dismissal of the deputy district heads proposed by the PPPDA in response to the refusal to vote for a very dubious draft decision proposed by Ion Ceban in the CMC’s meeting.
“We consider these illegal and unfounded dismissals are an indescribable vendetta of the mayor in response to the activity of the municipal councilors of the PPPDA, who firmly opposed the draft decision proposed by Ivan Ceban concerning the assembly of buses for the municipality of Chisinau with a loan that is to be taken out in dubious conditions and at an exorbitant interest rate of 8%, at the price of €122,600 a unit (total cost €12 260 000),” stated Aliona Mandatii, noting the decision didn’t specify fuel consumption of buses, which is a very important aspect as the municipality provides subsidies for fuel.
The PPPDA councilors asked to immediately initiate hearings and public debates so as to reach an optimal decision on the purchase of buses.
PPPDA vice president Alexandru Slusari said Ion Ceban, who insisted on meritocracy, resorted to political cleaning himself. Three deputy district heads representing the PPPDA were dismissed only for the reason that they vehemently opposed the idea of taking out a more than dubious loan for buying buses from Belarus.
A package of documents for buying a consignment of 100 buses this year was presented by the Chisinau City Hall to the municipal councilors on February 27. According to Ion Ceban, the consignment is to be bought from a bus factory of Belarus. These have engines of German make, automatic gearbox, low ceiling, modern equipment and are the most competitive on the international market by price. A unit of transport costs about €120,000. If the buses are assembled in Chisinau, the price will be by 7-10% lower, plus the exemption from VAT.
