Proceeds from privatization totaled 934m lei in 2008, Igor Dodon

The incomes made in 2008 from privatizing public property added up to 934 million lei. According to Senior Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economy and Trade Igor Dodon, the results achieved show that the economic entities, especially the local ones, tend to extend their businesses, Info-Prim Neo reports. “It is a sign of economic and political stability. The potential investors are attracted by the transparent method of selling shareholdings, by the unique patrimonial complexes and by the guaranteed access to the auctions held on the Moldova Stock Exchange,” Igor Donon said. The First Deputy Prime Minister regrets the fact that the deepening of the world financial crisis in some of the Western countries scared many of the foreign investors that intended to start businesses in Moldova during the last months of 2008. Igor Grigoriev, director general of the Public Property Agency of the Ministry of Economy and Trade, said that nine auctions to sell state property had been held on the Moldova Stock Exchange in 2008. There had been sold 105 facilities. The largest proceeds were obtained from the sale of Mezon Plant. The plant was purchased by a Russian-capital company from Singapore for 91 million lei. The Moldovan company Elat-Invest paid 81.6 million lei for Sigma enterprise, while the Moldovan health resort located in Odessa was bought for 73.3 million lei by the national investor – SDY-Invest Group. The US investment group NCH acquired the state-owned holdings in three companies: Aviatehnologie, Intrascop and Zorile. At the same time, a number of facilities considered attractive remained unsold. Among these were the Glass Factory in Chisinau, Unic Department Store, the carpet factory Floare-Carpet and others. Igor Grigoriev said that an important event in the privatization process was the recent approval by the executive of the regulations concerning the sale of land adjoining companies. “It is very important that these regulations contain the procedure for purchasing the adjoining land, that they stipulate that the Public Property Agency will sell state-owned land, while the local public authorities will sell the land owned by the local public administrations,” the director of the Public Property Agency said. According to him, another important fact is the revision of the coefficients for the nominative price of land. The coefficients used in rural areas have been reduced and this will allow the local businessmen to purchase the adjoining land, Igor Grigoriev considers. The land could be also bought in installments. 50% of the price could be paid initially, while the rest during three years, the official explained. He also said that the auctions to sell state-owned shares will be held on the Moldova Stock Exchange in 2009 as well. At the same time, there will be used other methods for denationalizing state property: granting of concessions by establishing public-private partnerships in such areas as energy industry, road building and communal economy. The budget law for 2009 includes 350 million lei from privatization. The money obtained from privatization is transferred to a special account. They will be used to finance extensive investment projects. Some of the Opposition forces expressed their dissatisfaction with the fact that the Government hurries to privatize the public patrimony in such a difficult time, when the world financial crisis extends. The analytical center Expert-Grup also considers that it is not the right moment for privatizations as the situation on the market is unfavorable and the parliamentary elections are coming. Moreover, Expert-Grup says, some of the companies put up for sale are involved in cases that are to be examined by the European Court of Human Rights.