PAS urges Ceban to disclose Chisinau event spending
PAS councillors in Chisinau have called on Mayor Ion Ceban to disclose spending on city events, while accusing his administration of failing to deliver key campaign pledges over seven years.
PAS questions spending on municipal events
Zinaida Popa, head of the Action and Solidarity Party (PAS) faction on the Chisinau Municipal Council (CMC), said the City Hall was spending considerable sums on presentations and events held in rented venues, despite having its own facilities.
She said the cost of a single event could reach thousands of euros. The PAS faction is asking the mayor to publish detailed expenditure breakdowns and identify the sources of funding.
“This is not the mayor's personal money. It is money from Chisinau's municipal budget, contributed by every one of you,” Popa said at a news conference on Wednesday, November 4.
The councillors also accused Ceban of failing to fulfil several campaign promises made since 2019. They identified five areas where they believe the administration has fallen short: parking facilities, road repairs, schools and kindergartens, urban planning and the management of stray dogs.
Parking facilities still incomplete
PAS councillor Dumitru Ivanov said Ceban had promised in 2019 to build parking facilities at the entrances to the capital within three years. The scheme was intended to allow commuters from neighbouring suburbs to leave their cars outside the city centre and continue their journeys by public transport.
Ivanov said the promise was reiterated in 2023, but none of the planned facilities had been completed. The City Hall's current deadline for finishing the works is the end of 2027.
Road repairs under scrutiny
The PAS councillor also questioned the quality and management of municipal road repairs, referring to an audit by Moldova's Court of Accounts presented the previous week.
According to Ivanov, the audit identified irregularities in several projects. He alleged that the City Hall paid two million lei in December for works carried out only in May in the Ciocana district.
He also said more than 100 million lei had been paid for work on at least 16 streets without the required technical projects and cost estimates.
Ivanov criticised the municipal administration's response to the audit findings, saying City Hall representatives initially acknowledged the report before subsequently questioning the auditors' expertise in road infrastructure.
“Chisinau residents have been road experts for quite some time, Mr Mayor. Everyone knows by heart the potholes they drive over every day on their way to work,” he said.
Schools and kindergartens facing capacity pressures
The availability of places in educational institutions was another issue raised by PAS.
Ivanov recalled that Ceban promised in 2019 to build 20 new kindergartens. He argued that the institutions subsequently reconstructed or reopened by the municipality did not fulfil that commitment.
The councillor also referred to a study commissioned by the City Hall in August as part of preparations for a new General Urban Plan. According to his interpretation of the findings, one in three children in Chisinau does not have access to a place in a public nursery or kindergarten.
He identified Ciocana, Riscani and Botanica as particularly affected districts, adding that overcrowding was also a problem in schools.
“One in three children is left without a place in a nursery or public kindergarten in Chisinau,” Ivanov said, referring to the study.
He also claimed that some of the capital's most overcrowded secondary schools had first-grade classes with as many as 40 pupils.
The councillor further criticised the Municipal Council's October 13 decision to put two hectares of land on Renasterii Nationale Boulevard up for sale, arguing that the site could instead be used to build a school.
Urban planning and construction concerns
PAS also accused the mayor of failing to deliver a new General Urban Plan and adequately address unauthorised construction.
Ivanov said Ceban had pledged during the 2019 election campaign to prevent construction that violated urban planning regulations and to have the new planning document approved within 18 months.
According to the councillor, the plan remains unapproved, while the Municipal Council has endorsed 13 zonal urban plans during Ceban's seven years in office.
He also referred to three such plans approved at the October 6 meeting, arguing that residential development was not sufficiently coordinated with social and transport infrastructure.
“Apartment blocks are being built without schools, kindergartens, roads or parking facilities,” Ivanov said.
Stray dog attacks raise safety concerns
The fifth issue concerns the municipality's management of stray dogs.
Ivanov recalled the case of a nine-year-old boy attacked by a pack of dogs on Miron Costin Street in the Riscani district in April.
He also claimed that approximately ten people were attacked by stray dogs every day in Chisinau during the first half of the year, five times the figure recorded over the same period in 2025.
The councillor said Ceban had promised during the 2023 election campaign to establish a citywide safety perimeter, introduce mass sterilisation programmes, including in suburban areas, and build a large sterilisation centre.
Ivanov argued that these commitments had not been fulfilled despite the annual allocation of millions of lei to address the problem.
“We allocate millions of lei every year to solve the stray dog problem in Chisinau. The money is there, it is being spent, but the problem persists,” he said.
He called on the mayor to explain how many more children would have to be bitten before the promised safety measures were implemented.
City Hall defends its projects
In response to the PAS allegations, Chisinau City Hall spokesperson Vasile Chirilescu said the municipality's events were intended to present major infrastructure projects currently under way across the capital.
He cited road and bridge rehabilitation, parking facilities and other developments carried out in cooperation with international partners.
“These are projects being implemented for the first time in Chisinau, together with external partners, and presented transparently to residents, councillors, experts and the media,” Chirilescu said in a response to Teleradio-Moldova.
He also said Mayor Ceban's activity report would be presented on Friday, November 6.
“We can see that they are bothered by the achievements made in Chisinau,” the spokesperson said, referring to the PAS criticism.
Addressing questions about the rental of venues for municipal events, Chirilescu pointed to similar practices by other public institutions.
“We would like to ask why the Government, ministries and other state institutions also choose Chisinau Arena and many other venues to organise various events, probably so that everyone can attend,” he said.
The PAS councillors have called on Ceban to publish a comprehensive account of his electoral commitments, including those they say remain unfulfilled.
Translation by Iurie Tataru
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