The transfer of the natural gas transmission networks to Vestmoldtransgaz shows to the world that the Republic of Moldova cannot amdinister anything, ex-Premier Ion Chicu said, commening on the authroties’ decision to transfer the networks to a company that belongs to Transgaz Romania and the EBRD. He expressed his dissatisfaction with the high gas rate of 18 lei applied to most of the consumers in Moldova at a time when the National Agency for Energy Regulation on Tuesday approved a rate of 11.71 lei for the consumers who are supplied with gas by a private company, IPN reports.
The former Prime Minister expressed his conviction that there are no preconditions for the Transnistrian region to remain without Russian gas even after the transit contract between Russia and Ukraine expires. Earlier, the Ukrainian energy minister announced that the Russian gas transit contract expires at the end of 2024 and the Ukrainian side refuses to negotiate its renewal.
“I don’t believe that the contract between Russia and Ukraine will be terminated and that Russian gas will no longer transit after this contract expires. They will only change the method of signing the transit contract. For example, a Romania company will sign a transit contract with Ukraine for the gas purchased from Gazprom. Not Naftogaz but an intermediary will sign a transit contract with Gazprom. There are no risks that the Transnistrian region will remain without gas,” Ion Chicu stated in the program “Résumé” on RliveTV channel.
He also said that the authorities’ decision to allow Transgaz Romania and the EBRD to manage Moldova’s natural gas transmission networks reveals the state’s incapacity to manage strategic goods.
“It’s regrettable that we show to the whole world that we are unable to administer anything in this country, either the Airport or the gas pipelines and electrical networks, as they want to also privatize those that remained in the north of the country. We show we cannot do anything. I’m bothered by the fact that we continue paying the highest gas rate even if summer also passed. This shows that last year we bought amounts of gas sufficient for winter, spring, summer and autumn too. But I saw that the charge for Rotalin company was decreased to 11 lei as this company knew to purchase gas better than Spînu did. This way, the consumers served by this company will pay 11 lei, while the rest will pay 18 lei,” stated the former Premier.
On Tuesday, the National Agency for Energy Regulation approved a gas rate of 11.71 lei for a cubic meter of gas for the consumers supplied by Rotalin-Gaz – a private company that serves 20,000 customers in Hâncești, Strășeni, Ialoveni, Căușeni, and Ștefan-Vodă. The rate for the customers of Moldovagaz remained 18.07 lei per cubic meter of gas, with VAT included.
