Mayors from northern regions participated in first round of consultations at Government on investments for merged localities

The first round of consultations with the mayors of localities involved in the voluntary amalgamation process took place today at the Government. Government’s Secretary General Alexei Buzu and Minister of Infrastructure and Regional Development Vladimir Bolea discussed with mayors from the northern regions of the country the investments that amalgamated localities will be able to benefit from and how the projects to be financed should be prepared.

The mayors were presented with the proposed mechanism for managing Incentive No. 2 – for infrastructure development, the stages of project preparation and submission, the areas eligible for financing, and the responsibilities of local authorities. Incentive 2 amounts to 3,000 lei per inhabitant and will be managed by the Ministry of Infrastructure and Regional Development through the Regional Development Agencies, with resource allocation planned for the beginning of 2027.

The infrastructure development incentive will provide funding for projects related to local public roads, water supply and sewer systems, public lighting and building energy efficiency, as well as social infrastructure—including educational, cultural, health and social welfare institutions, waste management and development of public spaces. 

According to Buzu, there are several important aspects for using the infrastructure incentive efficiently: the existence of professional teams in mayor’s offices; thorough preparation of projects; the existence of co-financing capacity; institutional implementation capacity; and cooperation with external partners.

“Our only chance to develop our localities and eliminate inequalities is to have large projects, and large projects come where capacities exist. We will work side by side with the team of the Ministry of Infrastructure and Regional Development at every stage of this process. We want to provide these resources as quickly as possible, we want to develop localities, to have the best possible infrastructure and services for people,” said the Government’s Secretary General.

Bolea emphasized that resources will be allocated as a priority to projects focused on developing the road network and expanding water and sewerage systems.

“We will complete all the projects that have been started. We look at the commune as a whole: there are no important villages and villages without importance, they are all villages of the Republic of Moldova, and our citizens live in all of them. We are also changing the public transport system. We want to ensure even development of the Republic of Moldova by directing investments evenly. We value people, not administrative units; there are no large villages and small villages – everyone is extremely important,” said Bolea.

One of the main messages conveyed to the mayors was that the proposed projects should start from people’s real problems, bring benefits to as many residents as possible, and serve as many as possible of the localities that form the new administrative-territorial unit. Local authorities were encouraged to talk to citizens and jointly determine investment priorities.

Today’s meeting with mayors from the northern regions is the first in a series of consultations organized at the Government. Discussions will continue with mayors from other regions so that local authorities can clarify financing conditions in advance, identify possible difficulties, and prepare projects that can be implemented once resources become available.

The Government is making available to localities that amalgamate voluntarily an incentive package estimated at 6.5 billion lei, through three types of financial incentives: support for preparing the process – Incentive 1; funding for infrastructure development – Incentive 2; and transfers to strengthen administrative capacity – Incentive 3.