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The rehabilitation of the Chircani-Zirnesti irrigation system in the Cahul rayon
with the U.S. Government’s Compact funds has started and is expected to be
completed in July 2015. The rehabilitation works cost about 13 million USD and
are carried out by the consortium of the Romanian companies
Hidroconstrucția&Iamsat Muntenia and coordinated by the Millennium
Challenge Account Moldova (MCA Moldova).
Since May, when MCA Moldova and this consortium signed the contract for
rehabilitation works, the latter has mobilized its construction equipment,
employed experts and workers and carried out earthworks to clean about 1 000
meters of drainage channels.
The rehabilitation of the Chircani-Zirnesti system has a new approach based on
modules or sub-systems that are independent from each other and have their own
pumps to pump water to about 160-350 ha. The modular construction of the
irrigation system on the Prut River provides more flexibility in using water for
irrigation because these modules are much more energy-efficient for small areas
than the traditional centralized systems and this is critical in particular in the
extra-season – the first months of spring and in autumn when the irrigated areas
stretch on just tens of hectares. The other benefits of the modular approach are
lower system pressurization costs, minimized risk of system accidents and
reduced water leakage, easier management of pumps.
"COMPACT seeks to
contribute to poverty
reduction in the Republic of Moldova
through economic growth"
Newsletter, July, 2014
HEADING FOR SUSTAINABLE ECONOMIC GROWTH
Compact Moldova
str. N. Iorga, 21, MD-2012;
mun. Chişinău, Republica Moldova;
tel.: +373 22 85 22 99;
fax: +373 22 85 22 94; e-mail:
www.mca.gov.md
The rehabilitation of the Chircani-Zirnesti irrigation
system is underway
http://www.mca.gov.md/
2
All the irrigation modules will pump water from a
common channel that will be filled with water from
the Prut River gravitationally, thus requiring no
costs for pumping.
The rehabilitation of the irrigation system includes:
(i) rehabilitation of more than 118 km of main and
secondary channels of the drainage system that
serves the entire area covered by the Chircani-
Zirnesti irrigation system;
(ii) construction of 9 irrigation modules, including
installation of 21 pumps and modern electrical-
mechanical equipment, new water intakes and
control structures; replacement of water supply
network with high density polyethylene pipes with
a total length of more than 62 km and installation
of hydrants.
There will be two pump stations to drain the
drainage channels and each of them will have 3
pumps with all the required electrical-mechanical
and automation components.
The reconstruction of the Chircani-Zirnesti
irrigation system will make farmers in the Cucoara
and Zarnesti localities take a big leap forward, as
they will be able to use water for irrigation
efficiently and as needed, reduce the maintenance
and energy costs and avoid water leakage due to
the high density polyethylene pipes with a long
operation term (50-70 years). The rehabilitation of
the Chircani-Zirnesti system will allow for the
irrigation of about 2 200 ha of farmland. Moreover,
drainage channels stretching on about 4 600
hectares will also be rehabilitated.
MCA Moldova has signed contracts for the
rehabilitation of 10 irrigation systems (6 on the
Nistru River - Criuleni, Lopatna, Jora de Jos,
Puhaceni, Roscani and Cosnita, and 4 on the Prut
River - Blindesti, Grozesti, Leova and Chircani-
Zirnesti) amounting to about 80 million USD. The
first systems – Criuleni and Lopatna – will be put
into operation in September and October this year.
The members of 11 Water Users’ Associations
(WUA) established with the Compact support of
the U.S. Government gathered together in July to
address the opportunities to encourage women to
be pro-active in the management of irrigation
systems.
The American expert Suzanne Butterfield, invited
to Moldova by the U.S. Embassy, shared her own
experience in the management of the irrigation
sector with the WUA members. She has 30 years’
experience in this area and over the past 5 years
she has been in management positions in several
irrigation water management entities in Oregon
(USA).
The participants agreed that no prejudices can
prevent women from making a career in the
irrigation sector. Mrs. Butterfield believes that
management and communication skills are a must
for a manager of a WUA, along with the skills to
efficiently use the knowledge and experience of
employees – things that can be successfully
achieved by women.
Irrigation – a sector for the social and professional affirmation of women
3
During the meetings with the Moldovan women
Mrs. Butterfield addressed different models of
administration of irrigation management entities.
A particular focus was put on the role of women in
the management of water users’ associations and
their empowerment to be proactive in decision
making, creating opportunities for women and
dealing with the challenges and prejudices that
prevent them from holding management positions
in WUAs.
The participants believe that learning the practices
used in the USA to manage the irrigation systems
is useful and appropriate for the Moldovan Water
Users’ Associations that have been recently
established and are something new for Moldova.
According to them both women and men that work
the land will benefit from the rehabilitation of the
irrigation system and this is why women should be
encouraged to be proactive and hold management
positions in the WUAs’ management bodies.
”The fact that we learn the experience of other
states with similar entities that have been managing
irrigation systems for decades will prevent us from
making mistakes and discover the opportunities of
a new irrigation system”, Liuba Stahi,
businesswoman and member of the Criuleni WUA,
says.
Experts claim that overall Moldovans still believe
that irrigation is not the right sector for women.
The transfer of the management of the irrigation
systems to WUAs is an opportunity to change these
traditions and encourage women to be part of the
decision making process related to the delivery of
irrigation services.
These efforts are translating into life the practices
of the Millennium Challenge Corporation that
recognize gender inequality as a major constraint
to economic growth. Empowerment of women to
the management bodies of WUAs will contribute
to the fair management of water resources,
decision-making transparency and fair delivery of
irrigation services to various social and gender
groups that use water for irrigation.
At the final conference held on July 24, 2014 the
representatives of WUAs suggested ways to
encourage women to take part in the management
of WUAs, including through training in the
operation of irrigation systems aimed to help
women acquire skills that will make them take the
lead in the development of WUAs and start their
own businesses in agriculture.
Kara McDonald, U.S. Deputy Chief of Mission to
Moldova, said that encouraging women to be more
active in making decisions is a key to the success
of these entities. From this point of view, Suzanne
Butterfield is a model that encourages women to be
proactive and develop businesses in agriculture,
added the diplomat.
Suzanne Butterfield, in turn, stressed the
professional potential of the women involved in the
operation of WUAs, encouraging them to start
businesses in agriculture and be proactive both in
the professional and community life.
Overall, 251 farmers who are also members of the
administration boards and ordinary members of
WUAs, 156 (62% of participants) of which are
women, took part in the nine meetings with Mrs.
Butterfield.
4
Since the Soviet times the Cahul rayon has been
famous for its vineyards with different varieties of
table grapes stretching on thousands of hectares
then, and when the largest part of the produce was
sold in the Soviet republics. As time went on,
however, their area reduced, one of the reasons
being the vineyards’ age. Over the past ten years,
due to the subsidies provided for new vineyards
from the state budget, the past glory of the wine
growers in Cahul has revived. The most popular
varieties of table grape in the south, as a rule, are
„Suruceni”, „Codreanca” and, in particular,
„Moldova”, which is considered to be the most
resistant variety of table grape in Moldova.
In this region, however, only several farms own
cold storage facilities to store grapes for longer
periods and further sell them at a higher price. One
of them is the small enterprise Ceinar SRL, the
production facilities of which are in the Rosu
village, Cahul rayon. The company has only 3 key
employees: director general, administrator and
accountant. The number of the other employees
differs from ten to one hundred people, depending
on the harvest.
Although the company does not own large
vineyards, its management, uncommonly, decided
to make its first major investment into the
construction of a cold storage facility with a
capacity of 500 tons and four rooms to store
different kinds of agricultural products. The cold
storage facility also has a pre-cooling room, where
fruits and grapes are pre-cooled in stages allowing
for their better storage for a longer period.
To build the cold storage facility the company used
its own funds, while the equipment, isolation and
the doors of the cold storage rooms were procured
with the Compact loan funds. Remarkably, this
was the first loan taken by this company ever,
because its management had been reluctant to take
loans. According to Clara Ivanova, Ceinar’s
director general, the decision to apply for a
Compact loan was driven by the low rate of
interest, the five-year loan term, and exemption
from different taxes. It’s too early to speak about
sales and services and their evolution, because
2014 will be the first year for the operation of the
cold storage facility, she said.
Cold storage of grapes provides better opportunities for selling
5
One way or another, Clara Ivanova claims that the
company’s cold storage facilities will not be
empty, because many small wine and vegetable
growers will be happy to store their produce there.
„Because it is easily perishable they will choose to
store their produce in our cold storage facility,
because it is close. There are many vineyards and
orchards around and part of their harvest will sure
be stored here”, anticipates the director of Ceinar.
Dumitru Arama, the administrator of the cold
storage facility, shares similar thoughts. There are
several cold storage facilities in the Cahul rayon,
but clearly they are not enough. For instance, in the
Rosu village and, in general, in the northern part of
the rayon, there are no cold storage facilities. We
are the first ones, Mr. Arama says. The local
people and others were happy to hear that a cold
storage facility would be built here. For instance,
the neighbouring villages Balta and Basnita are
specialized in growing vegetables and seeds.
Therefore, besides grapes and fruits we will also
store vegetables, he adds.
According to him, many farmers in the region are
seriously considering renting the cold storage for a
long term. „There are farmers who grow tomatoes
and are willing to rent a cold storage room for the
whole year. The market of agricultural products is
developing quickly and the farmers prefer selling
their products at the most appropriate moment, in
particular right before holidays, for instance the
New Year’s Eve”, added the administrator of
Ceinar.
We also expect high sales of our own grapes that
we harvested on the 200 hectares of vineyards that
the company rents. We have conducted some
studies over the past 4 years which revealed quite
stable prices. As a rule, the price of the grapes sold
immediately after they are harvested is around
6.50-7.50 MDL per kg, while the price of the
grapes stored in cold storage facilities ranges from
10 to 14 lei depending on their variety and quality,
Dumitru Arama claims. In fact, in just a couple of
months the price doubles. Certainly there are
additional costs – for packing, transporting and
storage, but the additional income is never lower
than 35-40%, he estimates.
The company intends to procure equipment for
production of crates for grapes and apples to
supply to most of the farms and will even agree to
receive payment for crates in tranches. Moreover,
it intends to buy at least 30 hectares of land to plant
its own vineyards and orchards. Consequently the
number of employees will grow from 3 to 20 and
even more. The company’s management is
confident that its produce will find its own niche.
The traditional markets are becoming challenging.
This is why more and more produce is sold in the
town of Galati in Romania, Dumitru Arama says.
We must offer quality, and we will sure find
attractive markets with good prices, he concludes.
6
The Compact will rehabilitate 7 km of national and
local road, more specifically the local road that
leads to the Soroca town and a 1.5 km segment of
the R14 road that stretches from the Sarateni
junction to the Balti town, additionally to the 93
km segment that crosses 14 localities rehabilitated
with Compact funds.
This will require amending the contracts with the
consortium of Turkish companies Onur and
Summa and with Strabag, Austria. These additional
works will be funded from the savings made from
the rehabilitation of the Sarateni-Soroca road.
The construction companies are expected to
complete the rehabilitation works on the 93 km
Sarateni-Soroca road segment in early September.
Recently the traffic has been opened under the
Ghindesti bridge and the Sarateni grade separation
has been inaugurated. These two bridges have been
built under the road rehabilitation project of the
Compact. The Sarateni grade separation is a 60 m
long bridge that is 13.5 m wide and 7 m high. It has
four spans: two 12 m spans at its edge and two 18
m spans in the middle, and is supported by 136
pillars. Its construction cost about 2 million USD.
At the inauguration event Prime Minister Leanca
expressed gratitude to the American people for this
generous assistance. “This is the largest technical
assistance project – a gift for Moldova. We can see
a good European road rehabilitated with American
funds and a good symbiosis. I am confident that
this is just the beginning, because we need at least
20 similar grade separations. Hopefully such
projects will be implemented in Chisinau too to
facilitate the road traffic. I am grateful to the
American people, U.S. Ambassador and colleagues
from the Embassy who closely monitored the
construction works”, Iurie Leanca said. Mr. Leanca
also thanked the MCA Moldova team led by
Valentina Badrajan for the successful
implementation of the road rehabilitation project
and for the efforts made to ensure transparency of
the U.S. Government’s funds.
I heard a very interesting remark from a mayor of a
village along the road that we are rehabilitating
who said that in just one year we shifted from the
Soviet Union to the European Union. The
Government of Moldova is indeed making efforts
to bring the country closer to the EU, and USA will
New road segments will be rehabilitated with Compact funds
7
always support Moldova through different
projects", U.S. Ambassador Moser said.
Valentina Badrajan, the executive director of MCA
Moldova, added that the grade separation will
facilitate the traffic and increase the road safety on
the R14 and M2 national roads. The Sarateni
junction was a T- junction in the past with an
increased traffic where many accidents used to
happen, which is why it was considered to be a
“black point”.
A rehabilitated road means major savings for
spare parts and oil that can be further invested in
the development of the business and in pay rises.
Andrei Bîrca, financial manager, Autotehnica,
Ghindești town, Florești rayon
Besides the Sarateni grade separation built under
the Compact, other six bridges, including a railway
bridge near Ghindesti, were built and 8 bridges
were rehabilitated on this road.
Moreover, for safety purposes, the Compact
includes construction of three roundabouts, re-
alignment of curves and reduction of slopes,
construction of additional lanes and sidewalks in
the localities crossed by the road and local roads to
social facilities. The total budget for the
rehabilitation of the 93 km Sarateni-Soroca road
segment is 100 million USD given by the generous
American people.
After the road was rehabilitated our company made
savings for oil and spare parts. We have bought
fewer tires, while the ones that we have used were
less damaged by the cracks in asphalt.
In figures, the savings amounted to about 30 000
litres per year for the Sarateni-Soroca road segment
only, i.e. a 20% reduction in consumption – both
for the trucks used to transport our produce and for
our own cars. Moreover, the produce reaches our
customers more quickly than before and we can re-
invest our savings or increase the salaries of drivers
or other employees.
I believe that the rehabilitated road will lure
potential investors. A developed infrastructure will
sure attract further investments. We intend to
expand our business, buy more cars and, due to the
rehabilitated road, we will be able to reach more
localities in the Floresti, Telenesti and Soroca
rayons.
The road to the future
8
A rehabilitated road means saved lives
Mihai Borș, colonel, head of the Emergency
Division in Soroca rayon
Our division covers three rayons – Drochia,
Floresti and Soroca, or about 300 thousand people.
Most often we deal with fire, extrication, rescue
from drowning or other incidents.
We have 11 special trucks that we use during
rescue operations, but we can act quickly within 15
km around the Soroca town only. The rehabilitated
road allows access to 22 villages in the Soroca
rayon and we drive on it during our operations
there. Any rescue operation depends on the road
quality that enables us to reach the scenes in time.
For instance, the flame of fire spreads in one
minute up to 4 meters and, therefore, the
rehabilitated road enables us to save more goods
and lives. And life has priority.
The rehabilitated road will awake the tourists’
interest in the historical monuments in the town
of Soroca
Nicolae Bulat, director of the Soroca museum
complex
The Soroca citadel, the Cosauti, Rudi, Claraseuca
and Luminarea Recunostintei monasteries are the
most picturesque places and monuments in the
northern part of the country. The Soroca citadel is a
unique monument that has national value and
fascinates the foreign tourists. The citadel and the
road that goes to the Soroca town are being
reconstructed now.
Once this monument is inaugurated, we clearly
expect a bigger flow of tourists both from Moldova
and abroad, especially that we have something to
say and we have what to be proud of and the
people must know the values of our past. The
tourists will come to the place that has a developed
infrastructure, resting and parking facilities. Never
before has a bus with more than 30 seats come to
the citadel because it would have required
significant costs for car service because of the bad
road. We are hopeful and we expect that the
rehabilitated road will reduce the travel time and
will increase the number of tourists to these
monuments.
A new road means a beautiful locality where
people move with no fear
Natalia Ambrozie, resident of Țînțăreni village,
Telenești rayon, aid to kindergarten teacher,
mother of two children
I live in the Țînțăreni village at the border with the
Codrul Nou village and for years we travelled
together with the children to our job and school in
extremely bad conditions. It was almost impossible
to move, because there was no sidewalk and we
were walking on the road along with the cars. I
9
have never left my children to walk alone on the
old road, because I was afraid for their lives. The
road was full of holes that the cars were trying to
avoid and we were afraid that we could be hit by a
car or our houses’ walls could crack because of the
booms caused by the large trucks. Things have
dramatically changed after the road was
rehabilitated. We can hardly hear the cars driving
on it. There is less noise. The street lighting is also
critical. We are happy that we can move freely on a
new and clean road and sidewalk.