The Chisinau City Council voted to transfer the loans borrowed in 2014 by the water utility Apa-Canal Chisinau (ACC) from the EBRD and EIB. Now the loans, worth 21 million euros each, are to be paid by the Chisinau Mayor’s Office, which acted as guarantor when they were taken out.
The measure, according to ACC, will enable the City Council to adjust the water and sewer rates bypassing the National Energy Regulatory Agency. And the increased rates will help the utility out of its difficult financial situation.
“The transfer of these loans to the municipality will unblock the adjustment of water and sewer rates in Chisinau. This will help us overcome the exceptional situation we are in”, ACC director Irina Gutnic told the Council.
ACC says the loans came with the condition that the rates must be adjusted on an annual basis, and the failure to do so may lead to penalties, adding to the financial problems faced by the utility. Since the loans were taken out in 2014, the rates were adjusted only once, in 2017.
