A new stage of the works to dry up the mud at the Water Treatment Station in Chisinau will begin this week. Dutch specialists will assess the works carried out by experts of SA “Apa-Canal Chisinau” (ACC) and will then assemble, test and put into operation the mud processing and pumping station, the ACC financial director Ion Burdila said at an ordinary meeting of the Chisinau City Hall on Monday, Info-Prim Neo reports. The personnel will be taught to operate the new mud processing equipment that will replace a number of costly and complicated installations. The residues will be separated from the water in special geotubes that will collect the mud. The mud will be then removed without being dried on the mud platforms that are over 30 years old. “At the end of 2010, when the works to collect the mud deposited on the platforms are finished, the unpleasant smell in the area will mostly disappear,” Ion Burdila said. The modernization project is implemented by the ACC in cooperation with the Dutch company “Tencate" with the financial support of the Chisinau Municipal Council (CMC). The ACC has transferred half of the necessary sum of 9 million lei to the company. The given project was to be initiated last year, but because the City Hall’s accounts were frozen, the municipal administration and Termocom SA entered into a conflict and the CMC did not adopt the municipal budget for this year, the reconstruction works on the water treatment station began only this month, Ion Burdila said. Recently, the Chisinau City Hall resumed the talks with the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) over carrying out a feasibility study at SA “Apa-Canal Chisinau". The EBRD decided to allocate a 3 million euro grant that will be used to implement the reconstruction and development project, which will start only if the CMC approves the new water and sewerage charges calculated by the National Agency for Energy Regulation.