President announced several solutions to provide energy to public institutions, support citizens in localities on left bank of Dniester river

Chisinau, Jan 9 /MOLDPRES/ - 14 localities on the left bank of the Dniester River under the jurisdiction of Chisinau will be provided with energy resources until their connection to the networks managed by the constitutional authorities. The assurances were given by President Maia Sandu who, together with Prime Minister Dorin Recean and Deputy Prime Minister for Reintegration Oleg Serebrian visited Varnița, Dubăsari, on 9 January.

The officials discussed with mayors the energy situation in their localities, the ways of interconnection to the networks managed by the constitutional authorities. Maia Sandu announced several solutions to provide energy to public institutions and support citizens in these localities.

"We have listened to the situation in each locality and noted what the immediate needs are. We understand that support is needed in the form of wood, pellets and generators. We also discussed a solution that cannot be achieved immediately but is very important: we will give more autonomy to the institutions that will have biomass plants. That means biomass power plants. We are now waiting for the Ministry of Infrastructure and Regional Development and the municipalities to prepare these projects for several public institutions on the left bank of the Dniester," Maia Sandu said.

Prime Minister Dorin Recean said he discussed with local representatives the execution of works on interconnection of electricity and natural gas networks in the 14 localities. Some works will be very difficult and will take a long time to be carried out. "We have checked the implementation of the provisions of the Commission for Emergency Situations in particular regarding the coordination of work between the central and local authorities for the interconnection of electricity and natural gas networks in the 14 localities which are under the management of the constitutional authorities, but the infrastructure of which, even if it belongs to the Republic of Moldova, is under the management of the left bank of the Dniester. We have agreed on who and what needs to be done so that we can move quickly in terms of executing the works. There are certain works that will be more difficult to execute because there are under crossings under the Dniester River," he explained.

The meeting with mayors was also attended by representatives of electricity and natural gas supply companies. Deputy Prime Minister for Reintegration Oleg Serbrian said that the problems in these localities are different and the interconnection works require investments. The official said that he will discuss with Tiraspol representatives about connecting some localities to Moldova's electricity grids, but using the infrastructure temporarily under their administration. 

The head of state assured that until the interconnection of the grids, the authorities will continue to provide the citizens on the left bank of the Dniester with aid in the form of generators, medicines and other necessary resources. Maia Sandu said that she had spoken with the Ukrainian president about coal supplies. "I discussed yesterday with Ukrainian President Volodimir Zelenski a potential solution whereby Ukraine would provide coal for the power generation enterprise on the left bank of the Dniester. Chisinau and Kiev governments are to discuss the details of this potential solution," Maia Sandu added.

As of January 1, 2025, Russian gas no longer transits the territory of Ukraine and Gazprom has stopped gas deliveries to the Republic of Moldova citing a debt that was invalidated by the international audit. Russian gas was being consumed in the Transnistrian region, including for power generation by the Cuciurgan power plant. Chisinau authorities have accused Moscow of energy blackmail, saying Russia uses energy as a political weapon.