Representatives of the company OmniSteel said they could withdraw their investment from the construction of a steel works given the bureaucratic barriers with which they meet in the process of launching the project. According to them, the authorities responsible for this industry should support such initiatives by creating equal conditions for all the market players.
In a news conference at IPN, Alexandru Rotaru, administrator and founder of OmniSteel, said that last summer they set the goal of launching an important project for the Republic of Moldova, especially for the municipality of Chisinau. The company’s product is concrete steel that is indispensable for the building industry, while raw material for making this in the country is more than enough. From the start, they have pleaded for a more much more ecological technology than the existing one. The investments are needed for protecting the environment. An environmental impact assessment was carried out and all the actions were coordinated with the responsible institutions.
Alexandru Rotaru said the shareholders expected greater openness on the part of the authorities in the launch of this project, but met with full obstruction. On February 17, they submitted the documents to the National Public Health Agency for obtaining confirmation as to the location of the works and its impact on the population’s health. There is no end result in this process yet.
“Our intention is to put our investment to good use. I want to tell you that the technique for building this facility and the financial aspect are a challenge. Everyone knows that the prices of building materials have soared – plus 30-40%. We must also attract considerably larger financial resources for completing this project. We contracted a lot of entrepreneurs for each sector apart – the designing company, the institute that deals with the environmental impact assessment, equipment suppliers from Turkey,” explained Alexandru Rotaru.
Valentin Eșanu, a shareholder of the company, said that half a year passed since they prepared the documents for designing the steel works. In the period, they didn’t manage to obtain all the necessary permits and signatures. “We met with bureaucratic barriers at different levels. For example, we submit the documents to an institution. The response period is 30 days. On the last day, we are told that something more needs to be done. But they could have provided a response the next day. We do not understand what is going on and who tries to block our investment,” stated Valentin Eșanu.
According to him, this happens amid press reports that a temporary environmental permit is being issued to a plant. “We do not realize what is happening and what legal terms are used. We started to have serious doubts about the further steps,” said Valentin Eșanu.
The shareholders also said that they want the authorities to ensure equal conditions for all the business entities and to eliminate the bureaucratic barriers or they do not see why they should invest in the Republic of Moldova and will have to reorient their investments to other countries.
Note: IPN News Agency gives the right of reply to persons who consider they were touched by the news items produced based on statements of the organizers of the given news conference, including by facilitating the organization of another news conference in similar conditions.
