Heat supplier intends to sue the City Hall for debt recovery

“Termocom” JSC intends to sue the Chisinau City Hall for the debts owed to the company, estimated at MDL 151 mln. According to a press release of the company, the legal action request will be filed with the court on August 3, 2007. The administration of the company, which was repeatedly accused by several municipal councillors of serving the interest of the ruling party, announced in the aforementioned press release that the local authorities have the promised money, but because of the poor organisation they can not transfer the funds. The administration of the company considers that it exhausted all the power to persuade the local authorities, which they repeatedly asked to settle the debts. This debt generates from the fact that the City Council promised at the beginning of this year that once the charges for heat are increased to MDL 540, the local administration would pay MDL 307.82, the difference between the new tariff and the tariff paid by the consumers – MDL 233. Meanwhile, MDL 40 mln was transferred from the local budget out of the total debt of MDL 190. In this way the local authorities do not execute the decision of the CMC and as a consequence are seriously endangering the activity of the company in what concerns the preparations for the heating season 2007-2008. “Termocom” mentions that the City Hall has totally ignored the requests of the company to settle the debt. On July 25, the supplier requested that the debt be settled within 10 days and warned that if the money is not transferred, the Company will sue the City Hall to recover the debts. The administration of the company says that because of the debt the preparations for the cold season could be compromised. “Termocom” does not have the possibility to perform repairs, which will have negative consequences for the entire Municipality of Chisinau. Mayor Dorin Chirtoaca has recently stated that the debts of “Termocom” should be fully paid by the City Hall, even if it was made responsible for the debts. He said that the Finance Department will pay MDL 50 mln from the local budget for partially covering the debt of “Termocom” and asked the Government to pay part of the debt.