Teachers, doctors and farmers will receive compensations for connecting to natural gas supply networks

The families of teachers, doctors and farmers from villages will receive unique compensations for connecting to natural gas supply networks. The Parliament passed a law in first reading in this respect on Thursday, June 14. In those families where only one member is part of the mentioned nominated categories will receive compensations to the total sum of MDL 750; and in those families where both members are part of the mentioned categories will benefit from a double amount - MDL 1500. The settlement as well as the compensation of such payments will be undertaken by the authority of local public administration, while the financial means will be allocated by the state budget through transfers towards the territorial-administrative authorities. The MPs voted unanimously for this draft law, although several opposition MPs criticised the Government for overlooking the importance of factors and problems such as connectivity to the gas network and for not settling efficient mechanism to reduce the expenses of the population. The opposition stated that the draft law is populist and is heavily connected to the election campaign. The Government believes that of those 20 thousand families which are included in the aforementioned categories, almost 7 thousand have the means to be connected to the natural gas network. According to preliminary calculations, in order to implement the draft law, MDL 13.3 mln will be needed. The authors of the law believe that one of the aims of the document is to attract specialists to villages.