Municipal official wants tougher penalties for unauthorised constructions

The administrative committees of the municipality apply symbolic fines for the unauthorised constructions, although the legislation provides penalties from 200 to 500 minimum salaries for individuals and from 500 to 1000 minimum salaries for entities, including demolition of these constructions. The statement belongs to the interim head of the Division for authorisations and discipline in construction, Valeriu Bodean. Bodean stated during the City Hall’s sitting, held on Monday, March 26, that at present the local commission from the district offices applies fines of 54 lei that do not favour the stopping of this phenomenon. Concurrently, he claimed the lack of a strategy for demolishing the unauthorised construction, though 1 mln lei is planned annually in the local budget in this regard. Starting this year, in Chisinau municipality there were registered 146 unauthorised constructions, of which only 27 have been demolished. There are often being constructed annexes to the dwelling blocks and household annexes without authorisation, as sheds, deposits, fences and garages. Bodean affirmed that the local authorities and State Construction Inspectorate bear responsibility for combating unauthorised constructions. Interim Mayor Veaceslav Iordan stated that, once the Chisinau General Urban Plan was approved by the Municipal Council, all the constructions must correspond to it. In late 2006, the Chisinau City Hall suspended the obligation of Chisinau residents to obtain technical expertise of the unauthorised constructions built near yard-like private households, including of annexes – deposits, sheds, fences, garages, cellars, sanitary blocks and simple heating units, made of local materials and that do not require any expertise. The given decision was taken following the townspeople’s recommendations, but also at the request of the Agency for Constructions and Territorial Development, as a result of many petitions made by the citizens asking for taking technical expertise of the unauthorised constructions, with a view to legalising them.