Revision of governmental programs and strategies is Sisyphean work. Economic analysis by Info-Prim Neo

The Government’s decision to review the policy documents at a time when there are about 300 outdated programs and strategies is in fact a Sisyphean work. Many of these documents had been worked out by those that were entrusted with the task to cancel or modify them. Like the mythological hero, the authors of these documents considered their work good as long as they formulated sets of strategies by denying or taking into account the realities. But in several years, these strategies turned out to be outdated or useless because there appeared new strategies and programs that doubled the first. Almost all of them did not have financial coverage and this made the achievement of major objectives practically impossible. [What is the Government’s intention?] The interministerial commission for reviewing the existent policy documents that was set up by the Government is to formulate proposals for modifying or abrogating the outdated policy documents that lack financial coverage or had not been correlated with the national priorities by June 20. All the conceptions, strategies, programs and plans approved earlier will be analyzed. According to the Government Apparatus’ Policy Coordination and Foreign Assistance Division, there are about 300 policy documents in Moldova that are outdated, not appropriately implemented and not sufficiently correlated between them or that do not correspond to the national priorities. The Government created an Interministerial Committee for Strategic Planning that will substitute a number of commissions empowered to coordinate inter-sector policies and to supervise the implementation of national documents. The committee will fulfill the duties of the Interministerial Committee for the Implementation and Evaluation of the National Development Strategy for 2008-2011, the Governmental Commission for Central Public Administration Reform and the National Committee on Foreign Assistance Offered to Moldova. There are more than 50 commissions, committees, boards or governmental working groups that coordinate the formulation and implementation of strategic documents or monitor the situation and trends in certain spheres and areas of activity [Over 80% of documents do not have financial coverage] The most serious problem is the lack of financial resources for the adopted documents. Therefore, many of the objectives have been achieved partially or remained unachieved. On May 19, 2004, the Tarlev Government approved the Economic Growth and Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper for 2004-2006 (SCERS), considered the major medium-term development planning document of the country. Its aim was to reduce poverty in Moldova, which is regarded as the poorest country in Eastern Europe. But the public budget could provide only 35% of the resources needed to implement the strategy assessed at 9.2 billion lei. The financial coverage for the strategy’s activities in education was 46%, healthcare – 20%, social protection – 29%, youth policies – 5%, ecology – 30%. "The development partners will be asked to finance the activities without financial coverage,” the strategy said. At that moment, the World Bank was ready to provide 90 million USD to 137 million USD to Moldova to implement the strategy during the next four years. And the WB did increase the amount of assistance for Moldova. On the other hand, Chisinau failed to benefit from important financial resources as a result of the Government’s inconsistency. At the end of July 2004, the World Bank announced it would cancel the Youth Inclusion Project worth 6.5 million USD because the Government of Moldova had not fulfilled all the legal formalities for ratifying it in due time, owing to objections on the part of the Communist parliamentary majority. The Moldovan Government “could not present the necessary legal notification for declaring the credit effective seven months after the World Bank Board approved it,” a WB official said. The majority parliamentary group did not accept the project manager and the selected personnel, saying also that the project does not include all the districts, though it was initially decided that this was a pilot-project. In January 2005, after less than a year of the launch of SCERS, there was initiated the National Program “Moldovan Village” with a total budget of 45 billion lei, the largest budget of a strategy or program launched in Moldova. Under the program, about 160 million lei will be needed to build, modernize and repair the water supply and sewerage systems, 200-220 million lei – to develop the natural gas distribution network, 500 million lei – to protect the environment. The total cost of the program when launched was equal to more than five state budgets. This made certain Government opponents question its successful implementation in the conditions in which the financial coverage was in question. The Government said that it counted on the formulation and implementation of sectoral and intersectoral investment programs, the use of foreign credit lines and commercial loans for the purpose, the creation of free economic zones, business incubators and industrial parks for small and medium-sized enterprises in rural areas. Three years after the launch of the program, many of these measures remained unimplemented. In a year, the authorities expressed dissatisfaction with the way in which the settlements are supplied with drinking water, with the conditions of the national and local roads etc. More than 80% of the policy documents do not have financial coverage. But no strategy or program was rejected for the reason that it did not have financial coverage. “The documents should be subjected to an independent financial examination and if they do not have financial coverage, they should be reviewed or even abrogated,” economists say. They also say there should be created an independent body that would evaluate the financial resources available to implement the planned activities. [Saraband of strategies] It is an absurdity to adopt a new document with the same objectives and priorities when a strategic document is still “alive”. In the spring of 2000, the Government approved the energy strategy of Moldova until 2010 with clear goals, including raising the electric power and heat generation capacities up to 70-80% of the necessities during the next ten years. The government officials said that Moldova needed another five-six power plants with an average capacity of 25-30 MW. In four years, the new Government approved the conception for developing the power plants until 2010 according to which the plants’ capacities would be increased 1.5 times so as Moldova could be fully supplied with electricity produced in the country. Under the conception, three new power stations are to be built in the south of the country by 2010. In July 2007, when the old strategy was in force, the authorities approved Moldova’s energy strategy until 2020. The document was new, but the objectives remained the same: to raise the levels of power and heat production to 70-80% of the necessities. As seven years ago, the authorities intended to build new power stations. One thing is for sure – the situation has not improved. As eight years ago, the local energy companies satisfy only 30% of the power necessities, while the rest of power is imported from one foreign source. No new power plant was constructed during all these years, despite the existence of at least five projects, some of them proposed by foreign companies. Busy with the adoption of new strategic documents, the Government has not prepared a public report on how the old strategies are implemented, with some exceptions. The civil society does not monitor the carrying out of the strategies and programs, while the information provided by the authorities accidentally is summary.