Water bodies to be assigned to private people, legal entities of Moldova only for use, not in property

Chisinau, 6 September /MOLDPRES/ - The cabinet of ministers today approved, at a proposal by the Environment Ministry, the amendment of the Law on waters, the government’s communication and protocol department has reported.  
The document envisages that any collection of water, such as lakes, rivers which are state-owned, can be assigned to private people and legal entities only for use for a certain period and cannot be taken in property at all. The assigning for use can be made only following a transparent public tender and the incomes coming from the use of water objects are transferred, as case may be, to the state budget or the local one.     
„The new provisions are set to ensure the prevention and minimizing of the pollution of the water bodies, through improving the normative framework in the field of management and protection of water resources, in accordance with the international standards,’’ Environment Minister Iordanca-Rodica Iordanov said.   
The amendments sees also the shortening of the validity of the period of environment authorization for the special use of water, from 12 to 6 years and for far-reaching activities, provided for by the law, - from 25 years to 12 years. 
The new provisions aim at the proper turning to good account of the water bodies as indivisible assets and the collection in the state budget of the incomes got following the assigning of water resources in use. The need of the amendment of the law on waters was dictated by the political vector of Moldova’s European integration and the fulfillment of the commitments taken within the Association Agreement, signed by Moldova with the European Union and the Treaty on Foundation of the Energy Community.   
Photo: Government