Cahul-Giurgiulesti rail line project will not be harmful to the environment and will bring only benefits, CFM says

The rail line Cahul-Giurgiulesti will not pass through natural reservations and will not affect the environment, instead it will bring only benefits, Miron Gagauz, Director General of Railway Moldova (CFM) told a news conference on June 26. According to Gagauz, the construction of the railroad will exclude in the future floods in the settlements located near the Prut River. The package of documents for the construction of Cahul-Giurgiulesti track is almost ready, Gagauz specified. The documents on the evaluation of the impact on the environment is to be urgently worked out and presented to the Ministry of Ecology and Natural Resources for the state ecologic expertise. The greatest problem, Gagauz says, are 48 hectares in private property. The resolution of this problem will allow carrying out the works faster. CFM plans to put into operation the Cahul-Giurgiulesti track in November-December 2008. The total cost of the project amounts to MDL 830 mln, of which only a half will be used for the construction works, Gagauz says. The expenses will be covered at 99% by the state budget and will be recouped within 10 years from the moment the segment is put into use. Also, Miron Gagauz said that this railroad track is important in view of the recently opened Giurgiulesti port. About MDL 1 mln tonnes of cargo will be transported annually by means of this segment, designed also for the transport of passengers. According to the press in Chisinau, several economic experts say that the money from this investment will not be recouped ever and that the project is utopian. At the same time, the ecologists and archaeologists expressed their concerns about the consequences of the works, which might destroy unique natural monuments of the ecosystem and of the national patrimony. The railroad will be built in a zone protected both by the legislation of Moldova as well as by RAMSAR and ESPOO conventions. According to the specialists, several species will be affected, a part of them included in the Red Book of Moldova. Also, the wetlands of the Lower Prut are important places for the fish which populates the Prut and Danube to spawn. Environmentalists consider that the damages will be irreparable and hard to estimate. The representatives of the National Museum of National Archaeology and History of Moldova say that already three important archaeological monuments were destroyed, two from the late Roman period (III-IB B.C), located near Giurgiulesti village, and a Moldovan medieval fortress dated from XIV-XVI centuries, with at least 20 more settlements about to face bulldozers.