The apartment buildings and public institutions in Chisinau will be rehabilitated within an energy efficiency project that the Chisinau City Hall intends to implement during the next 20 years with foreign financing. Mayor Dorin Chirtoaca told a news conference that the application for financing for implementing the project will be submitted to two international institutions today, March 27, IPN reports.

The mayor said that this is the largest project of the kind in the municipality of Chisinau so far. It covers all the public institutions, including the hospitals, kindergartens and schools, and the apartment buildings, except for private houses. A sum of €500 million is needed to implement the project. The money will be accessed in tranches of about €20 million a year.

An estimated €180,000 is needed for rehabilitating a building. This money will be used to repair and insulate the roof, walls and basements and to replace the windows. By an individual heating unit will be built in each bloc and the heating system will be thus adjusted. Those who want to take part in the project must meet two conditions, namely to set up a dwellers association and to contribute at least 10% of the costs.

Dorin Chirtoaca said the rehabilitation will allow reducing the consumption of heat by 40-45%, extending the life of buildings and securing them. For a building to be eligible, all the dwellers must give their consent to performing the works. If all the dwellers give their consent, but some of the families will not have financial resources, the socially deprived persons will be supported by the authorities through a social program.

The mayor said that they expect to get the approval of the international institutions by July. In the second half of the year the project will be examined by the Chisinau Municipal Council for being endorsed. The implementation of the project is to start in 2016.