The sophisticated sanitation equipment presented ostentatiously by the central and Chisinau authorities over half a year ago remain standing in summer as well. As it proved its inefficacy in winter, the local authorities said they will use the equipment in summer to sweep the streets. Yet, only four of the 20 specialized vehicles brought from Germany are used to clean the city at present. Petru Gontea, deputy head of the General Housing-Communal Division of the Chisinau Municipal Council (CMC), said recently that the possibilities of cleaning the municipality are still limited. Though they counted much on the German equipment, this cannot be used as intended because there is no money for fuel and for paying the workers. A sum of 1.9 mln lei was allocated for maintaining the sanitation vehicles so far this year, but this is not enough to ensure their activity during at least half a year. [The equipment is not adapted to the Chisinau streets] Though the German equipment is of a high grade, Gonea says, it is not adapted to the damaged streets inside the quarters. That’s why the machines are efficient only for the central streets. However, the 20 vehicles could be used to clean about 1 mln square meters of territory each day. [Business of the Century] The procedure for acquiring “the modern equipment” was initiated on 4 September 2006 by announcing a public tender contest. Five companies - “Moldavian Auto Center”, “Autoprim-Service”, “Autoforta”, “Dicon” and “Magic V.S.”, submitted offers. “Magic V.S.” won the contest. On 12 October, the Chisinau City Hall and the respective company signed the contract for the purchase of 20 sanitation and snow removing vehicles “Haca City Master” at the price of 116,640 EUR per unit. “Business of the Century” – this is how the transaction carried out by the Government and the former interim mayor of the capital Vasile Ursu is called. The snow removing vehicles bought for 2.33 mln EUR (about 40 mln lei) turned to be inefficient even if last year there was mot very much snow. The vehicles outfitted with modern electronic equipment stopped working shortly after the first snowfalls with glazed frost, so that the administrators had to equip them with protection chains. The former head of the Division Mihai Solcan said earlier that he was not satisfied with the activity of the company “Magic V.S.”, the winner of the contest, because it did not fulfilled its obligation to deliver the equipment within 12 months. [CMC knew nothing about the contest] According to the municipal councilor Oleg Cernei, CMC was not informed about the tender contest, about its results and the contract signing procedure and this is a flagrant violation of the present legislation. Moreover, according to the procedure for purchasing foreign equipment, the vehicles should be obligatorily tested in the conditions in which they will be used during the year, but this was not done. On 2 January 2007, the 20 sanitation and snow removing vehicles assembled by the German company SHMIT were presented in the clean Great National Assembly Square, in the presence of President Vladimir Voronin, Prime Minister Vasile Tarlev and some ministers. By chance, the snow fell the second day so that the cars missed the real test. On Wednesday evening, after a new snowfall, most of the pavements in the capital had been cleaned in the traditional way, by tractors with brushes. [Municipality experiences shortage of about 2,000 workers] Another problem arose after the purchased vehicles proved their inefficiency in winter – who will maintain the sophisticated equipment. The General Housing-Communal Division asked to be allotted another 14 mln lei from the budget to maintain the vehicles, including by creating a service department. While the sophisticated machinery remains standing, the municipality faces an acute shortage of sanitation workers. The 600 member staff must be extended to 7,200 persons, the deputy head of the Division says. The low salaries of 1,200 lei at most are the main problem in attracting workers. The municipality spends 1.3 mln lei yearly on cleaning works, at a time when it needs about 80 mln lei.