Projects implementation in Chisinau by state authorities without local consent is immoral - councilors

Several municipal councilors feel themselves ignored by the government and capital’s leadership in making decisions on the municipality’s development. A number of councilors gave multiple examples of how they are ignored by the local authorities, during the Thursday’s extraordinary meeting of the Chisinau Municipal Council (CMC). The decisions made during the President Vladimir Voronin’s visit to the City Hall was the most common example. The councilor of “Moldova Noastra” Alliance, Oleg Cernei, stated that the head of state “arranged for more grandiose projects, discussing only with the functionaries from the City Hall and with 2-3 councilors, although the identification and allotment of necessary financial sources for the projects’ financing depend on the CMC’s competence and not on the functionaries’ one”. Cernei requested the City Hall’s leadership to show transparence in its activities, inclusively to inform CMC about the General Urban Plan and capital’s development. The councilor qualifies the fact that CMC finds out about the planned changes later as abnormal and illegal, although it for the Council to decide upon these, and not the City Hall or Moldova’s leadership. “The frequent Voronin’s visits to the City Hall are of confidential nature. He discusses with the City Hall, with appointed functionaries and not elected, so that these visits lack any common sense”, Cernei said, pointing out that local councilors ought to set the meeting agenda of these visits. The councilor of the Social-Political Movement “Ravnopravie”, Valeri Climenco, has backed Cernei’s interpellation, declaring that the President’s involvement in the capital’s affairs is an abuse. “Does this mean that Voronin has solved all the country’s problems and all he is left to do is just to bring the capital in order?! If Chisinau will be brought to the condition of the rest of the country, then I pity Chisinau residents”, Climenco stated. He left the hall telling reporters that he does not see any sense in attending the meeting when the capital is headed by Voronin, and not by CMC. The councilor of the communist faction, Eduard Smirnov told Info-Prim Neo that he also thinks it is abnormal to perform works and then to have their financing approved in the Council. “The councilors are not familiar with the sums intended for the works and their estimates, but they find out about the expenses made after the works are finished”, Smirnov said. According to him, the situation must be urgently changed, in order to avoid the repetition of the case of Ismail street, the restoration of which was finalized long ago, while the local authorities are informed just now about the fact they must vote on the allotment of millions of lei for financing the roadwork. Smirnov stated that he understands that the street was renovated following a political order, lacking any draft whatsoever, but he qualifies such a situation as abnormal. Another communist councilor, Victor Odobescu, told Info-Prim Neo that CMC has a debt of 7-8 mln lei for the renovation of Ismail street, money that the local budget does not have, so it appealed to the Government’s support. Odobescu says that the local administration makes insufficient planning as regards the projects intended for renovations, not taking into account the possibilities of the municipal budget. The councilor of PPCD faction, Victor Grebenscicov, voiced his discontent with the fact that CMC “are in the dust of the decisions made by the government and City Hall”, what contravenes the legislation in force. The independent councilor Vasile Parasca, who criticized the fact that local authorities are not consulted as regards the capital’s priorities, shares the same opinion. They find out about the interim mayor’s and state leadership’s decisions later, and are obliged to vote allotments afterwards. ”Lots have been said on countering corruption, still we are those who facilitate corruption, by encouraging such occurancies”, Parasca added. Thirteen streets were renovated this year in Chisinau. Some of their financing are yet to be approved by CMC.