Moldova's border crossing point to have access road to highway in Ukraine

Chisinau, 29 August /MOLDPRES/ – The border crossing at Palanca, built with EU support, will have an access road to highway Odessa – Reni.

The route began to be built in August and will have a length of 250 metres, three lanes, an acceleration band, a deceleration track and be illuminated at night. The works are carried out in parallel with the construction of crossing point. For this part of the road, the Government of Moldova has provided €630 thousand.

At the new Palanca crossing point, which will be put into operation by the end of 2018, the border control will be carried out once only, on the territory of Moldova, by the customs and police officers of the Ukrainian and Moldovan border. At present, a team of 80 workers is hired on the construction site, the works being done in a proportion of 50 per cent.

The project envisages the construction of an administrative building with more than 30 offices for the employees OF Border Police (PF) and Customs Service (SV) of Moldova and Ukraine, which will also have specially designed spaces for control of cars and lorries. The buildings will be equipped with high – performance equipment for border control, computing, scanners.

The edifice is designed to meet the needs of all travelers, including persons with physical deficiancies, for which there will be built access slopes and adapted sanitary blocks. Similarly, there were provided special rooms for asylum seekers. The crossing point will also have a pedestrian control station, built for the first time in Palanca for persons crossing the border on foot or by bicycle.

It is estimated that the new crossing will maximise traffic throughout this border area. Thus, if so far, around 600 thousand persons crossing the border yearly throughout the Palanca point, and due to new construction, the number will double. Also, it will increase at least twice the number of vehicles crossing the border through this point. Thanks to the joint control jointly operated by Moldova and Ukraine, there will be reduced the risks of corruption and cross – border crime.

Currently, the Palanca border crossing point is located in an old edifice, and the infrastructure no longer meets the large number of passengers and vehicles crossing the border.

During the construction works, Palanca operates a temporary crossing point, which ensures the control and is already operated jointly by partner services of Moldova and Ukraine.

The crossing point from Palanca and road to highway Odessa – Reni will be put into operation by the end of 2018. The project is implemented by the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) with a budget of €6.18 million, out of which €4.5 million are granted by EU and €1.68 million by Government of Moldova.

(Reporter A. Ciobanu, editor A. Raileanu)