Moldova’s Ministry of the Economy will take over the monitoring of the contract for the construction of the Chișinău Arena from the Ministry of Education. The decision was taken at a meeting of the Supreme Security Council on July 18. The Minister of the Economy, Vadim Brînzan, says he will have to renegotiate the contract the former government signed with the Turkish company Summa, which was hired to construct the arena.

On August 6, the Minister of the Economy appeared on the investigative program Black Box on TV8 and declared that the General Prosecutor’s Office will be notified regarding the Chișinău Arena project because, in his opinion, it was aimed towards acquiring the 69 hectares of land, despite the fact that the arena is only being built on a 10 hectare area. 

“The government took 69 hectares [of land], announced a tender offer and later found a Turkish company to build the arena. What’s more, the Government took 198 million lei (€10 million) and transferred them to the Turkish company. The 10 hectares was subsequently pledged to the Turkish company: the complex and another 59 hectares on which nothing is built. Thus, the Turkish company will have the right to assign this [land] pledge,” said Vadim Brînzan.  

The cost of the Chișinău Arena’s construction amounts to 881 million lei (€44,5 million). According to the contract, the Turkish company will invest the sum and the state will pay it back over the course of 12 years, with funds from the state budget and the revenues obtained from the Arena’s activity.

However, Moldova will not be able to make these payments. To cover this amount, the complex would have to produce 178 million lei (€9 million) per year, which, according to the Minister, is impossible. In these circumstances, the Turkish side will take over the pledge, including the 59 hectares of land, which it can then assign to third parties.

“Everything was directed. We have documented this scheme and we have an 18 page document about what happened and I will personally take it to the interim Attorney General. Everything was about these lands,“ said the Minister, adding that he would have to renegotiate the contract concluded with the Turkish side.

Chișinău Arena – a Democratic Party project that took millions from the state budget

On March 13, 2018, Vladimir Plahotniuc, the then Democratic Party leader announced the idea of the Chișinău Arena during the Democratic Party’s weekly briefing. His godson, head of the Moldovan Legislative Andrian Candu, presented the project.

Just two days after the announcement, on March 15, 2018, Parliament registered a draft law signed by 14 Democratic deputies excluding 69.2 hectares of land from Stăuceni from the category of agricultural land and transferred to the administration of the Ministry of Education,Culture and Research for the construction of a multifunctional arena. 

On March 23, the project was voted on in the final reading. President Igor Dodon enacted the draft law and on April 6 it was published in the Official Monitor.

On April 13, the Government approved the general criteria for selecting a private partner to build the Arena. The only company registered in the competition was Summa, from Turkey, which was declared the winner in July. According to the public-private partnership contract for the project, the state will have to reimburse the cost of the area in installments paid over 12 years, from funds obtained from the Arena’s activity and from financial sources from the state budget.

READ MORE:Arena Chișinău Project – Financial Irregularities

Diana Gațcan, gatcan.diana@gmail.com