Moldovan government creates single structure for implementing strategic infrastructure projects

Strategic national infrastructure projects will benefit from a single implementation structure. The government proposes establishing the Office for the Implementation of Strategic National Infrastructure Projects, named, Moldova Project, which will concentrate within a single entity the capacity to prepare and implement the country’s most important public investments. The main obstacle to the implementation of major projects, which have been unjustifiably delayed for too long, is not so much a lack of funding as the capacity to implement them.

„We must acknowledge that today it takes us too long to take major projects from the idea stage to construction and then to completion. For more than ten years, we have been discussing the need for modern regional hospitals in Balti and Cahul. The project for a modern penitentiary in Chisinau was initiated in 2013 and is still not completed. Projects for modern court buildings are also progressing too slowly. We can do more and do it faster in irrigation, logistics infrastructure, roads and transport connections, energy infrastructure and other investments that are important for the economy and for people,” said Prime Minister Vasile Tofan.

Presently, implementation capacity is dispersed among ministries and various implementation units. Each project establishes its own team of procurement specialists, engineers, financial experts and project managers. Procedures and practices differ, experienced specialists cannot easily be deployed from one project to another and some of the expertise accumulated is lost once a project is completed. In a small country, where the number of professionals experienced in implementing major infrastructure projects is limited, we must make better use of the resources we have. Therefore, Moldova Project will bring together in a single institution a small team of highly skilled professionals who can work for the entire government. This team will prepare projects and technical documentation, verify studies and designs, prepare and conduct procurements, manage contracts, coordinate implementation and supervise the execution of works, monitoring deadlines, costs and quality.

Ministries will continue to determine which infrastructure projects need to be built and set priorities in healthcare, transport, justice, energy and agriculture. The new institution will be tasked with ensuring that projects are well prepared, professionally contracted, and, most importantly, brought to completion.

This institutional model is based on international best practices. Lithuania has had a Central Project Management Agency for more than 20 years, managing public investment projects and programmes and providing central and local authorities with methodological expertise in investment management.

In Ireland, the National Development Finance Agency brings together the state’s expertise in financing, procurement and the implementation of public infrastructure projects. In 2025, the agency was managing projects under implementation worth approximately 3.3 billion euros and providing advice on other infrastructure projects worth around 7.9 billion euros. Montenegro, a country smaller than Moldova and currently the leader in the European Union accession process, has concentrated the implementation of capital investments in specialized structures. According to an IMF assessment, two such structures managed 91 per cent of the country’s capital investments in 2019.

„The principle is simple: it makes no sense to rebuild the same capacity every time in each ministry or for each project. We must bring the best professionals together in one place and use them where the country needs them most,” emphasized the PM.

At the first stage, the new institution will absorb three existing entities: the Office for the Management of External Assistance Programmes under the Ministry of Finance, the Health Sector Projects Coordination, Implementation, and Monitoring Unit, and the Implementation Unit for the Chisinau Penitentiary Construction Project.

The new institution will initially have a staff limit of 26 people, consisting mainly of employees from the reorganized structures. No new bureaucracy will be created, and the staff of the central public administration will not be increased. On the contrary, the people, skills and experience that already exist will be brought together in one unit, where permanent capacity for implementing strategic projects will be built.

The State Chancellery will act as the founding authority, so that the entire portfolio of strategic projects can be coordinated at the government level.

Such an institution needs a manager with proven experience in transforming and making a public organization more efficient. Therefore, the government will nominate Mircea Esanu, the current director of the Public Services Agency, to lead the new institution. In recent years, the Public Services Agency has undergone an extensive process of modernizing and digitizing public services. Mircea Esanu has demonstrated that he can lead a large institution, build a team and manage complex transformation processes. We now want this managerial experience to serve some of the country’s most important projects. Mr. Esanu has served two five-year terms: as director of the Moldova Social Investment Fund and as director of the Public Services Agency. He led two different institutions responsibly, ensuring the proper use of public funds and delivering visible results.

At the Moldova Social Investment Fund, he managed a portfolio of approximately 50 million euros, delivering important results for people: more than 800 kindergartens renovated in rural communities, schools refurbished and roads built. At the Public Services Agency, he took over in 2021 an institution with 124.5 million lei in bank loans, a vehicle fleet in which 80 per cent of the cars dated from 2002, servers from 2006, only 5 per cent of services available online, and an average salary of 13,400 lei. In five years, Mr. Esanu fully repaid the bank debts, invested more than 400 million lei in the institution’s infrastructure, provided the Public Services Agency with 165 new vehicles and increased the average salary to 24,700 lei. The agency’s contributions to the public budget increased from 112 million to 355 million lei. Today, 81 of 96 services are available online—84 per cent. Their use increased fivefold, from 5 to 39 per cent. All identity documents of Moldova’s citizens were renewed, eliminating schemes and intermediaries.

„The objective is very concrete: fewer projects that remain on paper for years and more hospitals, roads, irrigation systems, logistics and energy connections and other infrastructure facilities built properly, on time and at a fair cost,” said the prime minister.