Only 10% of necessary snowplows used in Chisinau

The Chisinau authorities use only 10% of the necessary snow removal equipment to clean the streets, say specialists. According to them, more than 900 snowplows are needed, but they have only 10% of them available, Info-Prim Neo reports. At Monday's meeting of the Chisinau City Hall, most of the heads of the municipal services said the existent snowplows are defective and practically one half of the machines are out of use. Even in such circumstances, the situation on the streets is kept under control. In parks and in apartment buildings' courts, the snow is removed by hand. Veaceslav Tarna, the head of the Public Transport and Communications Division, said about 2.9 million lei was spent on snow removal during the last week. “About 25-30 special units work during the day, but at night their number is raised to 70 as the traffic is less heavier,” Terna said, stressing that no street in Chisinau is now blocked. The employees of the Housing Division do most of the work during the day. “At night, the courts of the apartment buildings are full of cars,” said the Division's head Petru Gontea. The waste removal company “Autosalubritate” encounters difficulties in transporting the garbage as the trucks cannot get to many places owing to the snow. The Mayor of Chisinau Dorin Chirtoaca said the local administration does not have the necessary equipment and machines to clean the secondary streets, but the central streets and the access roads to suburbs have been cleared of snow. If it does not snow, the rest of the streets will be cleaned during 3-4 days. “The austere budget of the Chisinau municipality did not allow purchasing new snowplows, but the winters were not so hard. We need at least half of the necessary equipment to cope with the problems. I hope the situation will change in the near future,” he said. The mayor called on the economic entities and the residents to clean the snow from the areas adjoining their offices and houses. Chisinau officials together with the mayor removed the snow in front of the City Hall's building the second consecutive day, giving thus an example.