At the beginning of 2014, South Regional Development Agency with the support of German Development Cooperation through GIZ has initiated a participatory process of developing the Regional Sector Programme (RSP) in the area of infrastructure of regional and local roads in the South Development Region (SDR).

Today, 17 March 2015, the representatives of the Ministry of Regional Development and Construction (MRDC), the EU Delegation in Moldova, the State Chancellery, as well as representatives of local public authorities (LPAs) of the SDR, members of the regional sector working group, “Drumuri” JSC, GIZ experts and advisors, specialists within the South Regional Development Agency (South RDA) met for a public consultation in order to discuss the document to be approved by the South Regional Council in its ordinary meeting on 26 March of the current year.

In the opening session of the public consultation, the South RDA Director, Mrs Maria Culesov, said that ‘the event is very important for our region and is the first of its kind. With the support of GIZ we have developed regional programmes in the areas of Water Supply and Sanitation and Energy Efficiency, whereas today we are going to improve the document related to the regional and local roads infrastructure. We are expecting to receive numerous proposals and suggestions, so as to obtain afterwards a quality document that we shall present in the Regional Council meeting. Moreover, the presence of a representative of the European Union demonstrates that our partners as well are interested in the documents prepared by us and hope for a positive outcome so as to finance those documents’, concluded the Director.

The Head of Regional Policy and Cooperation Department of the MRDC, Mr Dorin Andros, declared that ‘This paper has been prepared for one year with your participation. Our objective is to develop quality projects that shall help achieve national objectives and targets. The goal for 2015 is to develop priority Viable Project Concepts for all areas that would lead directly to the development of the region’, said the MRDC representative.

The EU Delegation representative, Mr Henno Putnik said that ‘the project Modernization of Local Public Service has been implemented for several years, and the European Union (EU) has joined that project in 2013. I have decided to attend this event because its component related to the regional and local roads is financed by the EU. I am glad to see so many stakeholders attend the meeting; this proves interest and involvement. I wish you fruitful discussions with good outcomes for every community and municipality”, said the EU representative.

South RDA specialist presented the draft of the Regional Sector Programme for the South Development Region, its objectives and structure, whereas the GIZ experts explained the role of the Regional Development Programme, its provisions, methodology and the corridors identified for the South region.

The participants expressed their proposals and suggestions aimed at improving the quality of the document. All proposals made both during the public consultation event and the ones collected by the Agency specialists shall be summarized in a table of divergences and submitted to the experts so that they introduce them into the final document.

It should be recalled that public consultations are a standard procedure in developing planning documents, whereas the presented Regional Sector Programme in the area of regional and local roads infrastructure shall be submitted for approval to the meeting of the South Regional Development Council on 26 March of the current year.

We reiterate that those activities take place with the support of the European Union and the Government of Sweden.