Government puts 1 billion lei property up for auction

State property valued at a total of 936 million lei will be put up for auction in the period February 22 – March 10, announced Tudor Copaci, the director of the Public Property Agency, at a news conference on Friday, Info-Prim Neo reports. During February 22-25, outcry auctions will be held at the Moldova Stock Exchange to sell stocks owned by the state in 33 companies, left over from the previous privatization rounds, including 18 majority interests. During the same period, privatization auctions will be held to sell 4 companies fully owned by the state and one YAK 40 aircraft. A separate outcry auction will be held on February 24 to sell two unfinished structures: the administration building of the Virology Institute, which comes with an adjacent 9ha plot, and an outpatient facility in Codreanca village, Straseni. Also on February 24, Dutch auctions will be held to sell 10 unfinished structures located in rural areas and which remained unrequested from the previous privatization rounds. The prices will be lowered gradually by a 5% pace until they reach a minimum of 50% of the initial price. Tudor Copaci also announced that the denationalization modalities will be diversified in 2011, and in addition to privatization deals will include lease and trust arrangements. Public-private partnerships will also be created to manage important companies. In 2010 the privatization proceeds amounted to 100 million lei.