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:

office@mca.gov.md;

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.