Only 19 of the 57 towns of Moldova or 33% have or are drawing up urbanism documents. In villages, the situation is worse. Only 17 of the 1,614 villages have such documents, which is 1% of the total. The data were made public by Minister of Regional Development and Construction Marcel Raducan, when presenting the medium-term program for working out urbanism plans at settlement level for 2013-2016, which was recently approved by the Government, IPN reports.

“The absence of urbanism documents affects the sustainable development of our villages and towns. There appear different constructions that not always meet the needs and the public interest,” said the minister.

The official also said that drawing up such documents for all the settlements would involve costs of 238 million lei. Such a sum cannot be now allocated. That’s why a number of settlements of major importance were included in the program. The money will be allocated mainly from the state budget, through the Regional Development Fund, and from the local budgets. The authorities also count on private investments and the support of international financial organizations.

The program also envisions reviewing the legal and normative acts with a view to simplifying the procedure for working out and approving urbanism documents in accordance with the European standards.