Chisinau administration says “Valea Morilor” park belongs to the State and it should allocate money for its reconstruction

The Chisinau authorities say that “Valea Morilor” park is owned by the state and they will ask money for restoring it from the state. At Monday’s meeting of the City Hall, Mayor General Dorin Chirtoaca said that “Valea Morilor” is a controversial problem because according to the law it is property of the central authorities, but they have not yet taken over the park from the City Hall. The given issue was brought up during discussions on the municipal budget for 2008. The Mayor General said that the City Hall must finalize the implementation of a number of projects next year. One of these is “Valea Morilor”. According to deputy mayor Mihai Furtuna, given that the park is state property, the allocation by the City Hall of recourses for reconstructing it would be a “mistake”. At the same time, Furtuna says that the works must be completed and the City Hall would try to cooperate with the Ministry of Finance to find the necessary recourses. The Chisinau Municipal Council postponed examination of the issue regarding the allocation of money for removing the mud from “Valea Morilor” lake two times this autumn. The reason invoked was the need to carry out additional debates on the presented draft decision. Under the draft decision, a sum of 20 mln was to be allocated initially to the Construction Division for covering the cost of the works carried out until present. The expenditure estimate for cleaning the lake was projected to total 46.2 mln lei. The works carried out so far are estimated at 15 mln lei. Earlier, Dorin Chirtoaca said that the City Hall will spend no extra money on cleaning “Valea Morilor” lake and demanded that the works executed by the contractor be strictly supervised. He also ordered an audit. The local authorities ascertained serious deviations from the present legislation in the implementation of the project. For instance, the tender contest for removing the mud was held this June, half a year after the works have started. The contest was won by the company “Autocomtrans”, which had already carried out a part of the works by June. Recently, the company’s management informed the City Hall that it cannot go on with the works when there is no money. It warned that the lake could refill with water if the works were stopped.