Representatives of the Employers’ Public Services Association of the Republic of Moldova warn about the critical situation of drinking water supply and sewerage services. According to them, to avoid the politicization of the adjustment of charges by local councils, this duty was transferred to the National Agency for Energy Regulation (NAER). There were worked out the necessary legislation and a methodology, but the latter is restrictive and does not cover a number of costs incurred by suppliers.
In a news conference hosted by IPN, the Association’s chairman Mihai Severovan said that currently, 45% of Moldova’s population does not have access to canalized drinking water supply, while 65% do not have access to centralized sewerage systems. Each second citizen drinks water that is unfit to drink. The infrastructure of water supply and sewerage companies worsens annually. “Approximately 30% of the fixed assets of companies are worn-out. At some of the companies, the figure stands at 50%. Year by year, the investments in the field of building of supply and sewerage systems decrease,” stated Mihai Severovan.
According to him, as the investments have declined, the payments for their services are the main source of income for these companies. When the charges were approved by local councils, this process was fully politicized and the adjustments weren’t appropriate, the losses being on the rise. As a solution, the operators and employers proposed that the charges should be approved by the NAER. As a result, a law on the public water supply and sewerage service and the methodology for determining, approving and applying water supply, sewerage and wastewater treatment charges were adopted. Regrettably, the methodology stipulates many restrictions and does not cover a number of the costs incurred by enterprises. “This way, we now have this critical situation when the charges do not match the real costs and the operators continue to work in critical conditions,” noted Mihai Severovan.
Deputy manager of the company “Apă-Canal Soroca” Igor Focșa said that a plan was worked out with the involvement of international experts and it was estimated that the charge by 2016 should have been raised to 23.30 lei. But the NAER approved a charge of 15.65 lei. This institution should cooperate with the operators and should not burden them with sanctions and inappropriate adjustments. A dialogue should be instituted between the Agency and the given companies so as to avoid the insolvency of the latter.
Igor Golberg, director of “Glorin Inginering” SRL, said the electricity charges were raised the last six months, while the water supplier consume electricity and the water and sewerage charges should be also increased. “For example, “Apă-Canal Bălți” will receive an electricity bill that will be by 1 million lei higher. What shall we do – not pay salaries to employees, taxes or the electricity bills for being later disconnected from the power supply?” asked Igor Golberg.
“Apă-Canal Strășeni” director Constantin Costov said the problems are similar at all the water supply companies. Huge effort has been made in time to supply the consumers with drinking water by performing rehabilitation works and making investments in other works, but the situation worsened after the electricity, fuel and other prices rose. In November, the water charges were raised from 14.6 lei to 16.39 lei, while the sewerage charges – from 10.7 lei to 10.93 lei. “I do not agree with such charges. We had had a charge of 14 lei for 15 years, but the prices of electricity and fuel were different then,” stated Constantin Costov.
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