PPPDA MP Kiril Moțpan said that urgent negotiations should be opened with the Ukrainian Government so as to eliminate the risk of a significant decline in the level of water in the Nistru River. In a press briefing, the MP said he will propose including the issue in the agenda of the Supreme Society Council given the risks that the Novodnestrovsk Hydropower Plant will be extended, IPN reports.
The MP noted the hydropower plant was built in the 1980s by the USSR government. The initial goal was for the obtained electrical energy to be equally divided between the two republics. But after the USSR fell apart, the plant wasn’t put into operation.
In 2014, Ukraine, without consulting the Moldovan side, set up four turbines for producing electricity on the barrage of the plant and intends to place three more turbines there. This will endanger Moldova’s ecological security as the flow capacity in the river would decrease significantly. Experts estimate that the Nistru can dry up in 4-5 years and massive floods can be experienced in southern Moldova in the sixth or seventh year.
There are also legal problems as half of the barrage is situated on the territory of Moldova, while the border tween Moldova and Ukraine on the Novodnestrovsk portion hasn’t been yet demarcated.
“The situation of the Nistru River affects two neighboring states – the Republic of Moldova and Ukraine – that are engaged in the same European project. The extent to which we can cooperate in this issue, which can be resolved only by principled and responsible discussions that would take into account not only the economic interests, but also the life and wellbeing of the citizens and of ecosystems, will show the extent to which the European project and the democratic values were really undertake by each of the states,” said Kiril Moțpan.
A parliamentary commission was set up to assess the integrated water resources management in relation to the Nistru River last week. The commission consists of Socialist MPs Radu Mudreac and Alla Pilipetskaya, with the latter being the commission’s head. For Moldova MP Violeta Ivanov was named deputy head of the commission, while PAS MP Vladimir Bolea will serve as secretary. Among its members are also Iurie Reniță of the PPPDA, Nicolae Ciubuc of the PDM, Marina Tauber of the Shor Party, and Gennady Verdeș of Pro Moldova.
