New apartments for blind persons from Chisinau

Blind persons who live in Chisinau were offered new apartments. The bloc on Hancesti blvd. was built replacing an old house, inappropriate for living. It is placed near the “Lumtehnica” enterprise, where the majority of these persons are working. Blind Persons’ Society of Moldova started the reconstructing this old building into an apartment block in 1997, but because of lack of financial sources, the works have recommenced few years ago, Dumitru Sclifos, chairman of the society noted. The amount of 120,000 euros was donated by a Netherlander organization; the government and Chisinau mayoralty allocated, later, 1,500,000 lei and 630,000 lei. The block has 48 apartments, 33 of them were given to blind persons at a price of 50 euro per square meter. Single room apartments have 50 square meters, 2-room apartments – about 60 square meters, and 3-room apartments – about 80 square meters and are equipped with autonomous heating systems. In order to finish the construction as soon as possible, 15 apartments were sold at the market price to persons willing to invest in an apartment. The keys to new apartments were given to those 48 owners by the chairman of the parliament, Marian Lupu, the interim mayor of capital, Vasile Ursu, and other officials. Blind Persons’ Society of Moldova also plans to repair a floor of an apartment block near the new one, where 30 single blind persons will be able to live. According to society’s data, about 300 persons with eyesight troubles of republic need places to live. Annually, from 15 to 19 young blind persons come from specialized school of Balti to Chisinau.