OREANDA-NEWS. July 21, 2014. Prime Minister Iurie Leanca participated in the launch of a crossroad in Sarateni village, which is the first construction of this kind, built over the past 20 years in Moldova, the government’s communication and media relations department has reported.

After Leanca inspected the new construction, he thanked the American nation for this generous assistance.

„This is the greatest technical assistance project, money that was brought for free to Moldova. We manage to see a European quality road built from American money, it is a very successful symbiosis. I am confident that this is just a first project, as at least 20 such crossroads would be necessary. I hope very much that we will also have such projects in Chisinau, as these will allow relieving traffic. I am grateful to the American nation, ambassador and colleagues from the embassy, who have actively monitored the construction works,” Leanca said.

Attending the event were American Ambassador to Moldova, William Moser, representatives of the Moldova Millennium Challenge Account and Millennium Challenge Corporation.

„I was given a very interesting retort by a woman mayor of a village located along the highway we are restoring, who said that we have transited from the Soviet Union to the European Union in a year. Indeed, the Moldovan government undertakes concrete measures to bring Moldova closer to EU and the USA will always be by Moldova’s side in various projects,” William Moser said.

The crossroad is made up of a new bridge with a length of about 60 meters, width of 13.5 meters and height of 7 meters. Almost 2 million dollars were earmarked by the Compact Programme in this respect.

The construction was made within the project on restoration of the Sareteni-Soroca road, on a length of 93 km, carried out within the Compact Programme. The crossroad will contribute to facilitate the traffic and increase the road traffic security in the area of the R14 (Chisinau-Balti) and M2 (Chisinau-Soroca) national roads.

The Sarateni-Soroca road segment is part of the M2 national highway, which ensures the connection between Moldova and Ukraine. The rehabilitation works to this highway have been started in 2012 and will continue by late August 2014. The reconstruction and modernisation of the 93-kilometer-lenght Sarateni-Soroca road is the goal of the project on road restoration within the Compact Programme, financed by the U.S. government, via the Millennium Challenge Corporation.