One fourth of winter service vehicles purchased last year by municipality sits idle

The firm that delivered last year to the municipality 20 new winter service vehicles, presented with pomp by the central and local authorities, fells short in fulfilling its contract obligations, Dionisie Boaghie, head of the department for housing and public amenities, told Monday’s City Hall meeting. According to him, five of the 20 units do not function for more than two months because they are out of order, and the firm that delivered them hasn’t reacted to the repair requests. Boaghe says that the warranty for these vehicles is to expire only at the beginning of March. The snow removal vehicles proved to be inefficient last winter, when they could not remove the large amounts of snow. Outfitted with advanced electronic equipment, the vehicles “got sunk in the snow” shortly after starting working, so the transport department decided to endow them with winter chains. The vehicles were not used over the summer time either, because of the shortage of fuel. “The deal of the century” – this is how some people have named the transaction performed by the Government and the interim mayor of Chisinau, Vasile Ursu. The acquisition procedure of the vehicles was initiated on September 4, 2006, by means of a public auction. The winner of the auction was “Magic VS”. On October 12, the Chisinau City Hall and the firm concluded a contract for the acquisition of 20 winter service vehicles “Haca City Master” worth 116,640 euros per unit.