The works to construct a new border crossing point started in Palanca village of Stefan Voda district. The investments were assessed at €5.5 million, €4.5 million of which will be granted by the European Union. It is estimated that the construction of the new facility will be finalized in late 2018.
Project manager Andrei Bejenaru has told IPN that the works to demolish the old customs post will be finished by this weekend. A temporary crossing point will work in the period. This can manage passenger transport units with a capacity of up to 22 persons and freight transport of at most 3.5 tonnes. Other units of transport are redirected to the Tudora customs post.
According to a press release of UNDP Moldova, it is expected that the time needed for crossing the point will drop by 20%. If till now about 600,000 persons crossed the border via Palanca, with the new facility the number of visitors would double, reaching 1.2 million annually, according to estimates. The number of vehicles would be of 570,000 yearly, twice more than now.
The newly-built crossing point will be tailored for the necessities of each and everyone: individual travelers, families, persons with disabilities, asylum seekers, entrepreneurs, brokers and last but not least - border police workers and customs officers.
A control post will welcome all visitors and guide them throughout the whole procedure. There will be available comfortable bathrooms, equipped for easy access of wheelchairs users. Banking services will be made available on the territory of the Palanca crossing point.
A pedestrian control point will be built for those who cross the border by foot or by bike. Vehicles would also find the crossing point procedure in Palanca smoother, with more than 16,000 m3 of paved area. The trucks checking point will process two trucks simultaneously and will be equipped with weighbridge for cargo. This modern equipment will allow doubling the number of processed trucks, from 150 to 300. Business representatives will have the possibility to access brokering services on the territory of the crossing point.
In the new modern administrative building, staff will benefit from rest rooms, changing rooms, sanitary points, shower cabins, a dining hall, a conference room, etc. The staff will have access to more than 30 various spaces for carrying out their duties, including: dispatchers’ areas, a storage facility and cleaning weapons, IT rooms, isolation ward, technical areas, archives, bathroom, spaces for visa checks, rooms for seized objects, spaces for checking. The total area of this customs point will be of 2.6 ha. The green areas will be arranged on an area of 6,700 m2.
