The Government gave up asking the Chisinau City Hall to co-finance the construction of the gas pipe Tocuz-Cainari-Mereni and appointed on Wednesday, August 15, the Ministry of Industry and Infrastructure as the general contractor of the project. PM Vasile Tarlev stated that in December 2006 the Chisinau City Hall was appointed as the contractor of the gas pipe project. It was planned that the financing would be equally covered by the state and local budget. The prime minister says that regretfully the newly-elected administration of Chisinau is categorically refusing to finance the construction of the natural gas distribution network although it was supposed to provide mainly the city with the necessary volume of natural gas. “It is not a secret for anyone that over the past 15 years during the cold season, when the temperature falls below -10 degrees, in the municipality of Chisinau the pressure of gas drops and the citizens can not use the gas stoves properly”, the prime minister said. According to him, the construction of the pipe was carried out as part of Government’s initiative to decentralise the heating system and to provide with natural gas the buildings with central autonomous heating. According to previous statements by Mayor General Dorin Chirtoaca, the construction of the pipe was performed with several violations. The contractor was appointed via a Government decision and not as a result of a tender contest, as the legislation requires. The mayor is concerned that after the administration of the pipeline is passed to the municipality, the local authorities will “inherit” a debt of MDL 70. Vice Minister of Industry and Infrastructure Vasile Mamaliga said that according to the international practice, high pressure gas mains, such as Tocuz-Cainari-Mereni are the property of the state and can not be privatised, as in the case of low and medium pressure pipes. The gas pipe Tocuz-Cainari-Mereni has a length of 62.5 km and a conveyance capacity of 800 mln cubic metres per year. It was announced that the pipeline will fully satisfy the needs of Chisinau and several settlements from other districts, like Anenii Noi, Causeni and Ialoveni.