The situation in the field of extraction of valuable minerals is alarming. The normative framework contains many shortcomings that enable the ill-intentioned entrepreneurs to cause damage to the national public budget, with preconditions for fueling corruption throughout the value chain being created, PAS MP Mariana Cușnir, who is a member of the commission of inquiry into the exploitation of valuable minerals, told a news conference. She said that violations were identified at most of the quarries and considerable damage is thus done to the national public budget, IPN reports.
As a result of inspections carried out by the specialized division of the Environmental Protection Inspectorate for, the damage caused to the subsoil was estimated at 39 100 000 lei, while to the soil at 75 000 00. Only 99 000 lei damages were covered. The results for 2021 are even more alarming. The division gauged the damage caused to the environment at 733 500 000 lei. Damage totaling 13 500 000 lei was also caused after illegally taking farmland out of the agricultural circuit. The imposed fines came to only 54,000 lei. The highest fine, in accordance with the Contravention Code, is 6,000 lei.
According to Mariana Cușnir, the most serious shortcoming is related to the designing of medium and long-term policy documents. The shortage of policy documents leads to the abusive exploitation of minerals. But these documents should specify how many mineral reserves are there in the country, how these resources should be used and what is the optimal mineral exploitation level.
“The extracted volumes reported today, for which the business entities pay taxes into the state budget, are not real. The extracted quantities are much larger and the state budget, the citizens of the Republic of Moldova do not benefit from this natural resource,” said Ina Coșeru.
Until 2017, the extraction of valuable minerals had been licensed. The business entities were obliged to obtain authorizations from the Licensing Chamber of the Ministry of Economy.
