The rehabilitation of Stefan cel Mare Boulevard and of Alecsandri and Negruzzi streets in the capital costs us astronomical sums, while the company which executes the works seems to have some relation with Mayor Dorin Chirtoacă. This project aimed at the repair of nearly seven kilometres of road is worth 11.5 million Euros, the money being borrowed. The municipality would have paid a million and a half Euros less, if no infringements were committed at the tender, as confirmed both by the National Integrity Commission, and by a special inquiry commission of Chişinău Municipal Council.

The works are being carried out by SC Delta ACM – 93, a company from Romania selected in the framework of an international tender held in 2014. The company committed to finish the works within 12 months after their start in 2015. Although the deadline will expire in three months, the works on Alecsandri Street and Negruzzi Boulevard are far from being completed, as for Stefan cel Mare Boulevard, the works have not even started.

The money for street rehabilitation in Chișinău was borrowed to the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), the loan agreement being signed by EBRD President Thomas Mirow and Mayor Dorin Chirtoacă on 2^nd of December 2011. In fact, the loan agreement was approved post-factum by Chișinău Municipal Council, on 25^th of January 2012 by its Decision no. 1/3.

On 21^st of September 2012, the European Investment Bank, in the person of Vice-President Wilhelm Molterer, and Mayor Dorin Chirtoacă signed a loan agreement for co-financing of "Chişinău Sectorial Urban Roads Project". A report of the inquiry commission set up by the CMC points out that Dorin Chirtoacă was not empowered by the Municipal Council to sign these contracts, violating thus the provisions of a number of laws and decisions of CMC.“The loan agreement was signed by Chișinău Mayoralty, a structure with no public authority. According to the Law on Local Public Administration no. 436 of 28.12.2006, Article 1, the mayoralty is a functional structure that assists the mayor in the exercise of his/her legal duties”, specifies the report of the inquiry commission which claims that Chișinău Municipal Council is the only authority entitled to sign the loan agreements. Moreover, the authors of the report believe that the loan conditions are unfavourable and the interest rates - too high.

A tender which is called into question

The members of the inquiry commission found out that infringements were committed during the tender for the selection of the contractor. Or, the bid evaluation board was set up by Mayor Dorin Chirtoacă just some hours before the tender. The board consists of five members who hold leading positions within the mayoralty of Chişinău and the General Directorate for Public Transport and Ways of Communication, as well as a representative of EGIS International Company, who subsequently withdrew from the position of voting member.

According to the legislation in force, the bid evaluation board shall consist of five voting members. In addition to it, each board member shall sign a declaration of confidentiality and impartiality, an unmet requirement in the case under consideration.

Six companies took part in the tender:  

Elecnor JSC (Spain)   - 16,528,543.49 Euros;

Ingstroyengineering Ltd (Bulgaria)  - 10,000,688.48 Euros;

SC Tangrad LLC (Romania) - 12,405,542.88 Euros;

SK-13 Patstroy JSC (Bulgaria) -  12,405,542.88 Euros;

Research Consortio Stabile S.C.A.R.L. (Italy) - 14,950,578.94 Euros;

SC Delta ACM - 93 LLC (Romania) - 11,571,416.11 Euros.

Although a company from Bulgaria submitted a better bid, the winning bid was Bucharest SC Delta ACM – 93 LLC. A few weeks later, in June 2014, Dorin Chirtoacă signed the contract with this company which undertook to rehabilitate the three streets within 12 months.

What is Delta ACM - 93 SRL and what are the interests of the mayor of Chişinău?

Delta ACM - 93 is a construction company from Romania established in 1993 by the businessman Florea Diaconu. The press wrote repeatedly that the company would be close to the Democratic Liberal Party (DLP) of Romania, whose member was the former Romanian President, Traian Băsescu. One of the company's directors is Ionel Pirpiliu, brother of Ştefan Pirpiliu, who was a DPL deputy until the year 2012, and who is currently the General Secretary of Civic Force Party.

Dorin Chirtoacă has close ties with the family of the former President Băsescu. The mayor is the godfather of his daughter, Elena Băsescu. Before the tender, Ştefan Pirpiliu frequently visited the capital of the Republic of Moldova together with  Mihai Răzvan Ungureanu and with the leaders of the current party of Băsescu,  Mişcarea Populară (People's Movement): Teodor Baconschi and Eugen Tomac.

"Delta ACM - 93 is a big fish among the Romanian builders. The company, alongside with a few other whose colour is close to orange, have known a shocking development over the past years. During a few years, Delta, a mediocre firm with 33 employees and a turnover of 1.5 million Euros, became a super company specialised in construction, with thousands of employees and turnovers that shake the memory. The spectacular bound of the company owned by Florea Diaconu occurred in 2007", cotidianul.ro wrote.

 “After the exile from Bucharest, SC Delta ACM – 93, which was seen as being under the wing of the family Udrea- Cocoş, stated to «gather» money throughout the country, focusing particularly on asphalting, pavement works, building kerbs, enveloping works and mansard building. Throughout the country, the local governments in the communities where this company won the tender were led by the DLP”, the publication Actualitatea Vâlceană wrote in 2013.

Afterwards, SC Delta ACM - 93 figured in DNA investigations related to corrupt actions within a number of local government authorities in Romania, and also was the subject of a criminal suit started by the police of Craiova for the bad quality of a road rehabilitation, what caused a car accident.

In Chișinău, Delta ACM - 93 LLC has over the past years repaired Alecu Russo Street, a project for which the municipality spent over 80 million lei. The works began in September 2012 and were supposed to be completed in autumn 2013, but it happened one year later.

The quality of the works performed on Alecu Russo Street was the subject of several complaints submitted to the City Hall by the State Inspectorate for Constructions. According to a report of the afore-mentioned Inspectorate on the quality of works executed on Alecu Russo Street, “the thickness of the leveling stratum does not meet the requirements of project documentation, the mixture of minerals in the composition of the sampling of asphalt concrete does not correspond to the admissible limits of the granulometrical composition, an insufficient adhesion of bitumen to the surface of the mineral parts of the asphalt concrete persists, the asphalt concrete mixture is done based on various types of pebble, exceeding the allowable non-knapped percentage.