Three trolleybuses to be assembled in Chisinau by end of 2006

The Chisinau Electric Transport Management (CETM) will purchase from Saratov city, Russia, 3 carrosseries of trolleybus to be assembled in Chisinau, according to a contract concluded between the two cities. The coachworks will be brought to Chisinau in early December. Their assembly will last for two weeks, and by the end of the current year the new trolleybuses will be tested, deputy mayor Veaceslav Iordan says. The cost of an assembled trolleybus is of USD 90,000, USD 50,000 of which is the cost of the coachwork. All the works will be performed by the employees from CETM. According to Iordan, a trolleybus assembled in the workshops of the Management will not be different from a trolleybus purchased from Russia. At present, 85% of the trolleybuses of CETM are older than 25 years. The expenses for the renovation of such a vehicle range from 500 to 700 thousand lei, but it can not operate more than maximum 5 years, CETM head Vasile Rudii says. As many as 16 trolleybuses are renovated annually. The municipality intends to assemble next year up to 40 trolleybuses. The assembling is part of a municipal program for renewing the fleet of the CETM. The Chisinau Electric Transport Management has 328 trolleybuses, 276 of which are daily running on the streets of the capital.