Representatives of local public authorities in Cahul, Taraclia and Cantemir rayons and the Ministry of Regional Development and Constructions, Ministry of Environment and South Regional Development Agency attended during 9 to 14 November 2014 a study visit in Romania on waste management. The visit was financially supported and organized by the German Development Cooperation through GIZ, in partnership with the Ministry of Regional Development and Constructions within the project ‘Modernization of Local Public Services in the Republic of Moldova’.
During the study visit, the participants were familiar with the lessons learned and progress made by public authorities of Arges, Sibiu and Mures counties in the development of waste management systems in accordance with European standards.
In addition to meetings with representatives of specialized offices of the three county councils and inter-municipal development agencies, the visit included field trips, where are placed various elements of infrastructure for waste management, and regional landfills, the irregular closed, transfer, sorting, composting stations etc. Thus, participants had the opportunity see how regional waste management systems work onsite and receive practical information and a series of recommendations made by specialists, experts and economic agents from Romania, who are directly involved in the planning, creation and operation of these systems.
Mayor of Cania commune, Cantemir rayon, Natalia Salciuc, says: ‘We got familiar with best practices for operating a waste management system. The first step is done. Now we have to work to solve the waste problem, a serious problem for the citizens’.
‘No theoretical description of what presents a regional landfill, a transfer station, a composting station, sorting station can not replace what was viewed on site. Thus, as a result of the visit, we totally changed vision on the sector’ says the representative of Cahul city hall, Svetlana Radu.
In turn, the representative of Taraclia city hall, Sergiu Camenşcic, says: ‘Before going into this visit, I had a very vague understanding of what is waste management. Now I return home with ideas how we could optimize this sector in the rayon’.
The three rayons that participated in the visit, Cahul, Taraclia and Cantemir plan in accordance with the national strategy and regional strategy for waste management, to create a common system of waste management. Currently, the South Regional Development Agency, with the technical assistance of GIZ, supports these efforts by developing a feasibility study.
GIZ supports two pilot investment projects in solid waste management: for Soldanesti and Rezina rayons, and Floreşti rayon, implemented by Centre Regional Development Agency, and North respectively. However, with the assistance of GIZ, Centre and North regions have adopted the Regional Sector Programmes in solid waste – meant to promote attraction of investments in the sector.
The project ‘Modernization of Local Public Services in the Republic of Moldova’ is implemented by the German Development Cooperation through GIZ and is financially supported by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida), the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Romania and the European Union.
