Moldovan vice premier states about 10 privatisation tenders not to respect commitments

Chisinau, 15 November /MOLDPRES/ – The Ministry of Economy and Infrastructure made a diagnosis of the privatization process with the Public Property Agency recently, depicting that in about 10 cases the investment obligations have not been met, said Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economy and Infrastructure, Octavian Calmic, at a press conference after the Cabinet meeting.

These are "several investment contracts that were concluded in the 90's but also afterwards. We are not talking about recent contracts, but historical ones. Several economic agents have not respected their obligations, especially regarding the investment component," said Deputy Prime Minister Calmic.

He referred to National hotel, which initially planned to invest €12 million for three years, but there has not been any proof of that investment, cinemas in the regions, but also the industrial parks, "where the state has provided a range of facilities for businesses to create jobs, invest, create production bases so that we can ensure growth."

In major cases, economic agents have respected their commitments, but "there are cases where administrators have preferred to go to court rather than fulfill their contractual obligations. We have some reason to win, others have less, so it was judicious to ask the Prime Minister to start legal proceedings and to recover these assets in favour of the state so that we can subsequently re – privatise them to bring benefits to the economy and society as a whole," said Octavian Calmic.

The minister states he will first have a dialogue with investors to encourage them to honour their commitments, then go to court. "It is a difficult process, but we hope to have the first results in the middle of 2019," said Deputy Prime Minister Calmic.

(Reporter V. Bercu, editor L. Alcaza)