The Economy Ministry’s Public Property Agency launches the first round of the privatization process this year. An outcry auction to sell nine unfinished constructions will be held on March 14. The constructions include the administrative block of the Institute of Microbiology and Virusology and the adjoining plot of 9 hectares, said the Agency’s director general Tudor Copaci, quoted by Info-Prim Neo. The same day, a discount auction will take place to sell seven unfinished constrictions located in rural areas. They were auctioned earlier, but weren’t sold. The initial price can be reduced to 50% of the selling price. An outcry auction to sell state-owned shares in 27 joint stock companies will be held at the Stock Exchange on March 23-30. The state holdings in 13 of them are higher than 51%. Until March 30, bids will be accepted for the investment contest to sell the movie theaters situated in Stefan-Voda and Glodeni towns and state-owned shares in nine joint stock companies based on the territory of the industrial park Tracom. The last contest of this round will be held to sell five state-run companies and the aircraft YAC, whose price was reduced twice and is now 2 million lei. “The property worth up to 10 million lei is in demand, while the more expensive one is not. We expect foreign investors to bid for them,” said Tudor Copaci. In the first privatization round, there will be auctioned property of about 800 million lei. A sum of 260 million lei is planned to be collected into the budget this year as a result of privatization. There will be also collected 275 million lei as dividends from companies in which the state owns holdings and 55 million lei as income from the state-run companies.