A group of nongovernmental organizations signed a call addressed to a number of state institutions and development partners whereby they warn that the public-private partnership to implement the project “Arena Chisinau” is promoted in an unjustified hurry, with procedural violations and in nontransparent conditions. The signatory organizations express their concern about the subsequent steps that will be taken to implement the project, such as to work out the requirements, to choose the investor and to implement the public-private partnership, IPN reports.
The NGOs condemn the non-transparent way in which the public-private partnership was initiated and is promoted and ask that the project should be reinitiated in accordance with the law, in conditions of maximum transparency and by including all the interested sides. They says this project should be stopped and implemented only after the legislation on public-private partnerships is amended, as Moldova pledged to do to get the €100 million in macro-financial assistance from the EU.
According to the signatories, the exact amount that the state should contribute to implementing the project “Arena Chisinau” hasn’t been determined, as the Ministry of Finance confirmed. “We express our profound concern about the taken decisions and lack of information about a project that will use public funds. We warn the authorities, the public opinion and the donor community about the real risk that the state interests will be irreversibly affected owing to the non-observance of the legal procedures,” they said.
The NGOs call on Prime Minister Pavel Filip to immediately order to annul the decision to initiate the public-private partnership to implement the project “Arena Chisinau”. If the Government decision is not abrogated, the signatories reserve the right to openly request the European partners to block the macro-financial assistance of €100 million, including the first installment.
The signatory organizations are: Association for Efficient and Responsible Governance; Journalistic Investigations Center; Independent Journalism Center of Chisinau, Center for Policies and Reforms; Institute for Public Policy, Transparency International Moldova and Watchdog.MD. The call is addressed to the Ministry of Economy and Infrastructure, the Ministry of Justice, the Ministry of Education, Culture and Research, the EU Delegation to Moldova, the International Monetary Fund, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development and the European Investment Bank.
