The financial reports on the implementation of the Moldovan Education Reform Project provide a reliable picture of the financial situations on December 31, 2017. This is the main conclusion of the Court of Auditors’ audit report that was presented in a public meeting on July 30. The audit mission was initiated at the request of the Ministry of Education, Culture and Research in the conditions stipulated by the financing agreement, IPN reports.
To implement the project, the Government of Moldova and the International Development Association in 2013 signed a financing agreement to provide Moldova with a loan of 26.1 million Special Drawing Rights, equal to US$ 40 million. The implementation period was April 2013 – June 2018, but this was extended until June 2019. As a result of the reorganization of the project in 2017, the World Bank and the Ministry of Education, Culture and Research in 2018 agreed on the provision of additional financing of 7.1 million Special Drawing Rights and on the extension of the implementation period until June 30, 2020.
The audit team established that the Ministry has a low institutional capacity to use the external financial resources. This led to a delay in the implementation of the project caused by difficulties experienced in the government procurement process. Thus, the sums disbursed in 2013-2017 represented 60.01% of all the funds intended for implementing the project and the structural reform in education.
A sum of 110 million lei was earmarked for renovating primary and secondary education institutions and lyceums managed by local public authorities. The Government distributed the money to six education institutions, in accordance with its decision of May 22, 2017. On December 31, 2017, the Ministry of Education, Culture and Research signed contracts for the execution of renovation works to the value of 70.5 million lei, using 64.08% of the planned resources.
The auditors determined that the Government decision wasn’t fully respected as the Ministry of Education, Culture and Research didn’t take into account the allocations per institution and signed contracts for the execution of renovation works whose value was by 12.4 million lei lower than planned at three education institutions and by 12.7 million lei higher at another three education institutions. The works execution level per institution varies from 40.01% to 74.7%. The main causes invoked by officials in charge were the insufficiency of workers on the building site and changes made to the designing documentation.