Railway infrastructure and associated lands worth more than 4.1 billion lei are not registered in government databases.
This was revealed by an audit of the Accounts Chamber conducted in relation to the consolidated financial statements of the Ministry of Infrastructure and Regional Development. During the inspection, it was noted that neither the railway infrastructure nor the lands occupied by them, as well as other objects of engineering and construction infrastructure and associated lands that do not belong to administrative-territorial units or legal entities of private law, amounting to about 4.1 billion lei, are not registered in the records of the Ministry or the Public Property Agency, which is the founder of the State Enterprise “Railway of Moldova”. This is due to the fact that the inventory and delimitation of state property managed by the enterprise has not yet been completed. At the same time, the audit showed that national roads and land plots and associated public property of the state for a total amount of 22.9 billion lei are reflected only in the accounting records of the State Road Administration, while this information is absent in the accounting records of the ministry or the Public Property Agency. For this reason, the cost of public roads is not reflected in the balance sheet in the government's report on the execution of the state budget. Herewith, the Court of Accounts reported that, according to the resolution of the Commission for Emergency Situations, for the implementation of the project for the rehabilitation of the embankment of the railway line near the village of Valeni between Cahul and Giurgiulesti, 60 million lei were redistributed from the Road Program to the Railway Transport Development Program. The ministry transferred this money, but it was not used for its intended purpose and was invested in government securities. Thus, the railway embankment was not rehabilitated. The Accounts Chamber also identified other violations and deviations in the ministry’s reporting. The auditors made 11 recommendations that the ministry must implement.// 24.06.2024 — InfoMarket.
