OREANDA-NEWS. May 05, 2011. It was said during the first meeting of the work group recently set up with representatives of ministries and departments, nongovernmental sector participating, to update the list of enterprises, banned from privatization and to revise services provided by the state by means of these enterprises.

The Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Economy of Moldova Valerii Lazar said only four enterprises are proposed to be kept in the list of assets, not subject to privatization among tens of state enterprises and joint-stock companies subordinated to the MInitry of Economy. The matter concerns the state’s shareholding in the Moldovagaz JSC, Moldexpo enterprise, Moldtranselectro state enterprise and the Costesti Hydroelectric Power Station which are the strategic enterprises in their sectors.

The rest of enterprises are planned to be denationalized not to prevent competition in the market, some services, within the state’s obligation, will be provided free of charge. According to Valerii Lazar, such enterprises of the energy sector as Northern and Northern-Western electricity distributing networks, Chisinau heat and power stations 1 and 2, the heat and power station Nord from Balti were excluded from the list. He emphasized that the country’s energy sector strongly needs big investment.

According to the him, the state cannot afford such investment. He specified that the energy sector is strictly regulated and there is no threat to the energy security of the country and consumers in case of privatization or concession of these enterprises. The same approach was proposed to other ministries and central authorities. Valerii Lazar said the exclusion from the list of enterprises banned from privatization doesn’t mean their automatic privatization, but means the launch of the complex and transparent process. He stressed that there are many different variants of denationalization of the enterprises, including the classical privation, which will be applied to enterprises and sectors in which the government has no strategic interest or where the competition is well developed.

At the same time, the European countries’ experience demonstrates efficiency of the modern economic instruments such as the public-private partnership, in particular, in case of communal and other infrastructure objects. Valerii Lazar said enterprises which will remain in the state property will also undergo some changes. They will be organized according to the corporate management principle, suggesting application of management efficiency indicators, transparency in public purchases, publication of reports on activities and personal responsibility of managers, leaders and public servants. Valerii Lazar said other state enterprises would be liquidated and their functions, if necessary, will be fulfilled free of charge by public institutions, this process will be a part of the so-called Guillotine-3, which will consider paid services provided by the state. The next meetings will be held on May 6 and 11.