Uncertain fate of contest for selling state-owned holdings in six companies

Ten bids for state shares in six of the nine companies privatized by the Ministry of Economy through the Public Property Agency were submitted for the investment contest. The deadline for applications was September 21, 17.00, Info-Prim Neo reports. The investment contest was announced within the second stage for creating an industrial park based on this industrial platform. During the first stage, the tractor factory SA Tracom was granted the title of industrial park and leased out a plot of over 32 hectares of land for a period of 30 years. Asked what will happen next after Prime Minister Vlad Filat, during a visit to SA Tracom earlier this week, said the privatization of these companies will be stopped in order to repair their infrastructure so as to stimulate the flow of investments in the industrial park, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economy Valeriu Lazar said it is not yet clear. “The investment contest can be stopped only by the commission that deals with the organization of the contest. No other person or the Prime Minister can stop it. But it seems strange to me. On Monday, before leavening for Poland, I had a meeting with the Premier and he did not say he wanted to visit SA Tracom. Given that SA Tracom is managed by the Ministry of Economy, I should be informed at least collegially,” said Valeriu Lazar. According to the minister, it would be a pity if the contest was stopped. “The potential investors took the Government’s intentions seriously. I think we shouldn’t discredit what we started. The people expressed interest and submitted bids. We will expect the commission to take a decision, in accordance with the law and the regulations,” said the Deputy Prime Minister. The state-owned holdings in the 9 companies vary between 62% and over 90%. Simultaneously, the Ministry of Economy and the enterprise that was designated administrator of the industrial park Tracom announced a contest to lease out the unoccupied production areas located on the territory of the park. According to Vasile Turcanu, director general of SA Tracom, so far they received about 30 bids from national investors.