Chisinau authorities vow not to yield to Termocom’s pressure

City councilmen and Chisinau Mayor Dorin Chirtoaca declared at a news conference on Tuesday that they will not yield to the pressure put by the heat provider Termocom to make the municipality restore the annulled tariff of 540 lei for heat or raise it to 715 lei, as recently calculated by the provider. City Council’s Chair Mihai Ghimpu stated that Termocom’s decision to disrupt supplies of hot water and cut off certain economic entities is illegal and its authors should be held criminally answerable. He said the Council was right to re-enact the older tariff of 233 lei as the previous decision raising it to 540 lei was devoid of legal grounds. He further stated that even though the Government promised to cover part of the expenses related to the rise in the tariff, the understanding was not respected. Furthermore, the contribution of the state budget to the city coffers for the next year has been cut by some 70 percent, that is why the municipality cannot afford to compensate for the tariff hike, Ghimpu said. The Council’s chairman went on to add that the city authorities will inform the Prosecutor’s Office about Termocom’s decision to disrupt hot water supply and will sue the heat provider for cutting off the City Hall building from the heating system. Ghimpu announced that he will summon the Council next week to discuss the situation and to request Termocom to resume delivery of hot water. Mayor Dorin Chirtoaca said that what Chisinau is experiencing today recalls the events of January 2006 when Russia halted gas supplies to Moldova because of certain disagreements over the fixed price. Termocom and the central authorities are now using the same blackmailing tactics, said Chirtoaca, adding that he will not yield to pressure. On December 4, the City Council annulled the tariff of 540 lei per G-calorie fixed on January 25, and replaced it with the older tariff of 233 lei. The decision was backed by 27 municipal councillors, including the majority Coalition and the Humanist-Democratic faction. In response, Termocom ceased on December 10 supplying hot water to all the consumers in Chisinau and said it would lower the temperature of the delivered heat.