Three of the six border crossing points set up on the Moldovan-Romanian border are overloaded. The responsible authorities are looking for solutions to ease traffic and reduce the waiting time in customs posts. Possible solutions were discussed by the director general of Moldova’s Customs Service Vitalie Vrabie and vice president of the National Agency for Fiscal Administration of Romania Dorel Fronea. The two officials had a joint meeting with representatives of the Border Police and officials in charge of sanitary-veterinary control at the Sculeni customs post, IPN reports.
Vitalie Vrabie said the number of crossings through the Sculeni customs post in the first 11 months of this year rose by 30% compared with the corresponding period last year. The border was crossed by over 700,000 motor vehicles, up 36%. The number of crossings by buses increased by 25%, while by trucks by 12%. As the infrastructure and capacities of the customs posts remained the same, lines are formed at these.
The Customs Service’s director general noted that the electronic customs declaration will be introduced on February 1, 2017 to ease traffic at customs posts. The infrastructure of the Sculeni customs post and Costesti-Stanca customs post needs to be developed as freight trucks cannot use these now.
Dorel Fronea said the entrance checking procedures are different from the exit ones and the Romanian side has fewer customs employees on duty that the Moldovan one. Therefore, lines appear mainly at the lanes for entering Romania. The bridge over the Prut at the Sculeni customs post is narrow and has only two lanes, an entrance and an exit one. Therefore, each of the sides should discuss the issue with the central authorities and propose developing infrastructure.
Fredolin Lecari, chief of the Border Police of Moldova, told later the journalists that there are only six border crossing points on the Moldovan-Romanian border, as opposed to over 20 on the border with Ukraine. As the traffic of passengers and freight increases, difficulties appear. Launching a joint checking procedure on the Moldovan-Romanian border is a priority for next year as the waiting time should be reduced.
In another development, Fredolin Lecari stated that the motor vehicles with children younger than three are given priority. He asked the border police to check the lines and call on the travelers with small children to get in front and not queue up.
The meeting also involved the director of the National Food Safety Agency Gheorghe Gaberi, who said that they are analyzing the possibility of opening a sanitary-veterinary checkpoint at the Sculeni customs post.
A similar meeting will be convened at the end of January to communicate the decisions taken at internal level and the actions that are to be taken.
