EUR 2 mln worth snowploughs bought by municipality sank in snow

Municipal Councillor Oleg Cernei says that the purchase of those 20 snowploughs worth EUR 2.33 mln (about MDL 40 mln), transacted by the Government and the ex-mayor of Chisinau Vasile Ursu can be named “the deal of the century”. Even if the snow was not abundant this winter the snowploughs did not manage to accomplish their task – to clean the sidewalks of Chisinau from snow. Those three waves of snow which fell over Chisinau this winter proved the impotence of the snow clearing vehicles, which are endowed with advanced electronic equipment, to cope with the consequences of the weather conditions. After the snow melted a crust of ice was formed on the sidewalks. It was covered with another layer of snow this morning. Because of this, the snowploughs “sank” shortly after starting their work, so that the drivers are forced to endow them with protection chains. According to Cernei, the purchase procedure of the “advanced equipment” started on September 4, 2006 through a public bid. Five companies – “Moldavian Auto Centre”, “Autoprim-Service”, “Autoforta”, “Dicon” and “Magic V.S.” – placed their bids, the last one winning the tender. The company and the City Hall concluded a contract on the purchase of 20 snow removing and clearing vehicles “Hanca City Master” worth EUR 116 640 per unit. The State Budget spent about MDL 40 mln. Cernei says that the CMC was not informed about the bid, its results and the way the contract was concluded, which is an obvious violation of the legislation. Moreover, the vehicles should have been first of all tested in Chisinau. At the same time, the price settled by the producer of the machines is not known, as well as the profit of “Magic V.S.”, Cernei says. The municipal councillor says that after the purchased vehicles were compromised by the little snow, another problem occurred – there are no persons to maintain the advanced equipment. The Communal Department requested another MDL 14 thousand to settle this issue, including for creating a Technical Department. [“The snowploughs slide on ice instead of removing it”] Cernei considers this is a gross case of embezzlement and says that the specialised bodies, the Court of Accounts, the Centre for Combating Economic Crime and Corruption are obliged to handle this case and check “the deal of the century”. The cited source says that in light of the precedent with 40 ambulances purchased for EUR 7 thousand per unit, the justice should question the persons who purchased these useless vehicles at the price of EUR 110 per unit. The head of the Communal Department told Info-Prim Neo that the Department submitted a claim to “Magic V.C” because it did not fulfil its commitment to keep up the equipment during 12 months. At the same time, the vehicles have summer tyres so they slide on snow. He says that in case the company will ignore the claim it will be sued. At the same time, Solcan considers that the machines are necessary in order to maintain a clean city, saying that Chisinau needs at least 60 vehicles of this type. On January 2, in the presence of Vladimir Voronin, the PM Vasile Tarlev, as well as several ministers, those 20 snow removing vehicles, produced by the Germany-based SCHMIT Company, were presented in the Great National Assembly Square, clean at that moment. Coincidentally, a day after the presentation it snowed and the cars missed the chance to be tested. On Wednesday morning, after a new snowfall, the majority of sidewalks from Chisinau were cleared as usually by tractors.