On Wednesday, 13 March, the first meeting of rayon working group on updating Cahul Rayon Water Supply and Sanitation Action Plan for 2018-2023 took place at Cahul Rayon Council. It shall be carried out under the ‘Implementation of local public services related modernization measures in the water supply and sanitation sector of Cahul rayon’ project, implemented by the German Development Cooperation through GIZ.
The meeting was attended by Ion Groza, president of Cahul Rayon, representatives of Cahul Rayon Council, rayon counsellors and mayors of Cahul rayon localities, working group members and GIZ experts: Sergiu Plesca, GIZ regional advisor, Silvia Strelciuc, GIZ national expert in strategic planning, Vitalie Cernomoret, GIZ national expert in technical analysis and Anatol Moldovanu, IDIS ‘Viitorul’ expert.
The goal of updating the water supply and sanitation component of the Social and Economic Development Strategy of Cahul Rayon is to provide a clear orientation for development of water supply and sanitation sector aiming at ensuring the access of population to services improved in quality and quantity. At the meeting, the working group members were informed on the results achieved in the planning period 2012 – 2017 in the following fields: inter-municipal cooperation, regionalisation of WSS services, institutional aspects and investment measures implemented in the rayon. Also, the issues and challenges faced during the mentioned period were discussed and shared, as well as, best practices and lessons learned.
The updating of the WSS Action Plan for 2018 – 2023 will be a two-stage procedure: stage I – evaluation of the plan during the programming period 2012 – 2017 and of its quality, implementation degree together with drawing of recommendations for improvement and stage II – development of the new Action Plan, including organisation of public consultations and hearings, approval of the Action Plan by the Rayon Council.
In addition, at the meeting the president of Cahul Rayon Ion Groza reiterated the importance of implementing the measures which will improve the access of rayon population to quality drinking water services, of involving all stakeholders in this process and the importance of communication to and raising awareness of population with regard to environmental and health issues related to the quality of water consumed and the need of a proper strategic and participatory programming in order to attract national and external funding for the development of the concerned sector.
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The project ‘Modernization of Local Public Services in the Republic of Moldova’ (MLPS) is implemented by the German Development Cooperation through GIZ in partnership with the Ministry of Agriculture, Regional Development and Environment and is financially supported by the German Ministry of Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), the European Union, the Romanian Government, the Swedish Government and the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC).
