International Road Assessment Programme launched in Moldova
Prime Minister Vlad Filat today participated in the launch of the International Road Assessment Programme (iRAP) in Moldova, the government's press service has said.
Attending the event were also Interior Minister Victor Catan, Transport and Road Infrastructure Minister Anatol Salaru, iRAP director-general John Dawson and World Bank Country Manager for Moldova Melanie Marlett.
Filat said that the assessment of roads in Moldova starts today, with 3,000 kilometres of roads out of 9,000 due to be assessed within 25 days.
"After this assessment, which is the first of the kind in South-eastern Europe, the data will be examined within two months, after which we will have a comprehensive report on the state of roads in Moldova and what we should do to bring them back to normal," Filat said.
Filat thanked the World Bank and Millennium Challenge Corporation for supporting this project financially. The value of iRAP is 200,000 dollars and the purchased equipment is worth 700,000 euros.
"The assessment of roads is another step towards the creation of modern and safe roads, which is highly important. The report that we are going to receive in two months is an important argument in our talks on funds for the restoration of roads held with our development partners," Filat said.
John Dawson said that the Moldovan government had assumed many important commitments, among which the restoration of roads.
The expert said that this project would be an extra argument for potential investors interested in restoring Moldova's road infrastructure. He thanked Filat for the attention paid to this sector and invited him to see for himself how the equipment for the assessment of roads functions.
When back, the prime minister told journalists that he convinced himself of the high-value of the equipment, noting that he reached an agreement with the project's partners under which, Moldova should become an example of large-scale project aimed at ensuring safe road traffic and creating modern roads.
"This project proves once again that we can do good things here at home and that we are able to persuade our development partners to back us," Filat said.
Filat also talked about other road restoration projects, noting that presently a large-scale project is being prepared jointly with the Chinese government. Filat also expressed confidence that Moldova's roads will be brought back to normal in five years. To this end, the government will yearly increase the funds allocated for this sector, with the figure standing at 650 million lei (about 40 million euros) in 2010.
Moldpres
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