ECO-BUS WEEKLY DIGEST August 2- 8. Most important Economy & Business news by IPN
● MONDAY, August 2
Modernization works at Generation Unit No. 1, three new pumps and degasser to be installed
Termoelectrica has announced that it is carrying out broad works to modernize and maintain the thermotechnical equipment used to produce heat and electrical energy through cogeneration at Generation Unit No. 1. According to the supplier, multiple activities are performed to replace major equipment so as to improve the operational efficiency, to increase the output of production installations and the reliability of electricity generation through cogeneration. “Our priorities, as the previous years, include the rehabilitation of production infrastructure and absolutely necessary modernizations as these materialize into direct benefits for consumers by ensuring the continuity of the uninterrupted supply and improvement of the quality of the provided heating services,” said Termoelectrica director general Veaceslav Eni.
HORUS Energy’s reaction to attacks of rival company. “The try to influence results of tender”
The Moldovan company “HORUS” LLC, being part of “HORUS ENERGY” brand and international holding “PROMINVEST DEVELOPMENT” LTD – United Kingdom, became the target of serious attacks and a widespread disinformation campaign. With denigrating articles, fake news, lies and other vile actions, they try to influence the results of an international tender that will take in August 2021, when the company that will reconstruct the other generation units of “Termoelectrica” JSC will be selected, after the successful realization by our company of a similar project, in 2019, at the generation Unit nr.1. The country’s energy security and the supply of electricity, heating energy and hot water to the citizens of Chisinau depend on the result of this tender, IPN reports, quoting a press release of the company. The fake news published by several media institutions, seriously damage the company's image and bring unfounded accusations against “HORUS ENERGY” regarding the quality of the works carried out by the company at generation Unit no. 1 of "Termoelectrica" JSC.
ACC: Residents of Chisinau will not feel unpleasant smell from Wastewater Treatment Station
“Apă-Canal Chișinău” SA (ACC) director general Anatolie Lichii assured that the unpleasant odor from the Wastewater Treatment Station will not be felt in Chisinau. “The administration of “Apă-Canal Chișinău” SA daily monitors the technological processes. The installations are ready to work when air temperatures are high. We are making a maximum effort to prevent the unpleasant smell from going beyond the protection area of 500 meters,” Anatolie Lichii stated in the August 2 meeting of officials of municipal services. According to him, the Wastewater Treatment Station works as usual, while the technological installations function according to the technical requirements. The daily flow capacity at the station is 140,000 cubic meters of water and the volumes discharged into the Bâc River are within the norms. As regards the reconstruction works performed at the station on July 26-30, Anatolie Lichii said those works involved about 50 workers. The works now continue at the admission building and the pretreatment and excessive mud collection building. The quality of works is permanently monitored.
Environment seriously affected by used tires and burned oil
There are no accurate statistics about the volume of used tires and used oil in the Republic of Moldova and also about the motor vehicles that become scarp iron. It is yet definite that they are a source of pollution with multiple risks to the environment and people’s health, said participants in a news conference held at the Ministry of Agriculture and Regional Development that, together with the Environmental Projects Implementations Unit (EPIU), is putting into practice a grant program to manage such waste to the value of €200,000. Gennady Yurco, secretary of state at the Ministry, and Dorin Andros, EPIU project manager, related that the projects that will be collected until August 20 will focus on the cooperation between local public authorities and business entities in the prevention of illegal storage of specific articles, supporting of recycled products markets and development of regional infrastructure for eliminating solid waste, in accordance with the practices of the EU member states. It is important to increase the population’s and waste generating sector’s awareness of the importance of managing this waste and the risks associated with the inappropriate use of such waste amid the existing collection and recycling capacities.
Moldova loses a lot because it does not implement corporate governance elements, ex-minister
Former minister of finance Mihai Manole, ex-ambassador to the U.S. and former representative of Moldova to the International Monetary Fund, said the Republic of Moldova loses a lot because it does not implement elements of corporate governance. In an interview given to RFE/RL’s Moldovan Service, Mihai Manole said RED Union Fenosa, when it left, didn’t ask the state to take over a part of its debts. It just left. In the case of Moldova-Gaz, the situation is more difficult. Today, the debt this company intends to claim from Moldova totals over 122 billion lei, which is three annual budgets. This is the debt for the natural gas that was consumed, but was not paid. Our citizens are very disciplined. 760,000 households of consumers regularly pay for consumption. The problem resides in a component of the mother enterprise Moldovagaz. This is called the daughter enterprise Tiraspoltransgaz, which accumulated this debt,” said the ex-minister of finance.
● TUESDAY, August 3
Financial assistance of up to $40,000 for business support organizations
Sweden and the UK offer by $40,000 in grant funding to business support organizations from both banks of the Nistru River. The support is provided in the framework of the “Advanced cross-river capacities for trade” (AdTrade) project, implemented by UNDP with financial support provided by Sweden and the United Kingdom. According to a press release of UNDP, under the “Development of support and advocacy capacities of the business support organizations” grant competition, AdTrade Project will select at least five projects developed and submitted by consortia established by business support organizations from both banks of the Nistru River. The winning projects will benefit from financial assistance of up to $40,000 each to identify the needs and to provide the necessary support to the private sector, to enhance the public-private dialogue, to formulate feasible policy solutions for improving business environment on both banks of the Nistru river, etc. The competition will focus mainly on enhancing women’s business associations from the Transnistria region, which would represent the needs of their members – women-entrepreneurs, including women with disabilities.
Bloc of Communists and Socialists present legislative priorities
Members of the parliamentary group of the Bloc of the Communists and the Socialists on August 3 presented a number of bills that they would propose in the current legislature. According to them, a large part of the proposed initiatives are part of the electoral program of the current parliamentary majority and these proposals can therefore find support in Parliament for being implemented. In a news conference, MP Radu Burduja said the President proposed exempting the Moldovans who return home form paying taxes on personal possessions introduced into the country, including a vehicle. This is a good initiative, but it hasn’t been introduced into Parliament yet. As this is a good bill, they propose extending it so that it covers all the citizens, including those who remained at home. MP Radu Mudreac said one of the bills allows for the rectification of the budget so as to provide compensations to the farmers who were affected by the natural calamities of 2021. They also suggest banning the import of genetically modified products and amending the public procurements law so that the national producers get 15% of the value of the offer when bidding for food products.
● WEDNESDAY, August 4
Four municipal councilors elected MPs will continue to deal with problems of capital city
The four municipal councilors representing the Party of Action and Solidarity, who now sit in Parliament, will no way give up dealing with the problems of Chisinau and its citizens, member of the Chisinau Municipal Council Alexandru Trubca stated in a news conference, being quoted by IPN. Alexandru Trubca said the four councilors who will now hold seats of MP plan to closely cooperate with the other municipal councilors of PAS, primarily in the legislative sector. “During the one year and a half I served on the Council, I ascertained that there are many problems that cannot be solved owing to the existence of particular impediments at legislative level,” he stated. According to the PAS MPs, cooperation will be ensured in such sectors as architecture and urbanism, public, transport, pay parking lots, waste management, development of road infrastructure in the city. The four MPs will propose making the punishment for violation of the legal construction norms harsher, simplifying the procedure for demolishing buildings erected illegally, regulating the procedure for interrupting the illegal building process, reviewing the tacit approval of permissive documents, protecting the historical monuments.
Alexandru Slusari: Employees of CFM are sent to bank to raise loans. Reaction of CFM director
Former PPPDA MP Alexandru Slusari asks that the new Government should urgently discuss the situation at Moldova’s Railways (CFM) in one of its first meetings. In a post on his Facebook page, the former MP says Romania and Ukraine offer Moldova to restore the international circulation of trains, but the administration of CFM refuses to do it, arguing the railcars are in a deplorable state. “The Chisinau-Odessa-Chisinau route is one of the most profitable routes for Moldova’s Railways in summer. Can’t 20 cars be repaired so as to significantly increase the incomes of the strategic enterprise, even with borrowed money, based on a concrete and real plan for restoring the circulation? Instead, thousands of employees, who during six months haven’t been paid salaries, are sent to banks to raise loans,” Alexandr Slusari posted on Facebook, noting the movement of international trains was halted in 2020 owing to the COVID-19 pandemic and no one then said something about the state of railcars.
● THURSDAY, August 5
Natalia Gavrilița: We must have a new social contract; we will build state that helps
The state should not only point to the changes that can be made, but should also implement these. The state will work with small producers so as to create a new social contract and a state that helps will be built. These producers will then be more willing to pay taxes into the state treasury. Work will start from a separate, much simpler, much more de-bureaucratized regime for SMEs, Prime Minister –Designate Natalia Gavrilița stated in an interview for RFE/RL’s Moldovan Service. Natalia Gavrilița noted the state’s behavior towards small entrepreneurs will change radically and they will do so that the state helps them to develop their businesses and does not hamper them. New investors should be then attracted to areas with a higher value added. Higher salaries imply the switchover from a development model where unqualified work is used to areas that necessitate higher productivity. This entails investment in vocational and technical education.
● FRIDAY, August 6
Inflation started to grow at start of 2021, NBM
At the beginning of 2021, inflation started to increase in the Republic of Moldova, primarily owing to supply shocks, especially in relation to the import prices of fuel, food and others. Starting with April and May, the rise in the consumer price index (CPI) has been also supported by the pressure exerted by the internal aggregate demand, National Bank governor Octavian Armașu said when presenting inflation repot No. 3 for 2021. The governor noted the annual inflation rate rose from 1.49% in March 2021 to 3.16% in June. Except for the regulated prices, all the components of the consumer price index have increased. The food products contributed essentially to CPI owing to the drought of 2020, as did the basic inflation that grew the past few months due primarily to the simulative monetary conditions implemented by NBM. “If we compared the prices of food products in the Republic of Moldova with the international ones, we see a powerful correlation between them, which means that the market in Moldova, being supplied more with imported products following the drought of 2020, was powerfully influenced by external prices,” stated Octavian Armașu. According to the governor, the fuel prices also influenced CPI. There is a considerable correlation between the prices on stock exchanges and the prices on the domestic market.
● SATURDAY, August 7
Official reserve assets on the wane
The official reserve assets on July 30, 2021 came to US$3.763,50 billion, down US$10.88 million compared with June 30, 2021, when they totaled US$3.774,38 billion. The decline in the official reserve asserts in the period was influenced by the payments made to service Moldova’s external public debt, totaling US$14.80 million, the Ministry of Finance’s payments of US$7.12 million, interventions in the domestic currency market in the form of currency sales, to the value of US$4.95 million. Also, the rise in official reserve assets was determined by the net inflows related to the mandatory reserves in currency of the licensed banks, to the value of US$6.08 million, registration of loans and grants in favor of the Ministry of Finance for investment projects, in the amount of US$4 million, including US$ 1.77 million or €1.5 million disbursed by the International Development Association within the COVID-19 Emergency Response Program and the budget support disbursed by the World Bank institutions, in the amount of US$2.59 million or €2.17 million, the revenues from the management of the currency reserves of US$0.56 million, the net inflows into the account of the Foreign Assistance Programs Management Office, to the value of US$0.13 million, and other net inflows.
