Construction companies from Romania, Portugal, Israel, Russia, France submitted their bids for the rehabilitation of four irrigation systems on the Nistru River – Jora de Jos in Orhei rayon, Cosnita in Dubasari rayon and Puhaceni and Roscani in Anenii Noi Rayon - with Compact funds provided by the Millennium Challenge Corporation.
The deadline for submission of bids was July 29, 2013 and MCA Moldova, the public entity which implements the MCC Compact, received five bids for different lots, the value of which ranges from 10.5 million USD to 21.7 million USD.
The four irrigation systems will be rehabilitated after more than 30 years since they were put into operation. According to their designs, the electro-mechanical equipment will be replaced with more efficient and modern equipment, new electronic pumps control equipment will be installed, 85% of the water supply network will be replaced with high density polyethylene pipes, all the hydrants will be replaced, the premises of the pump stations will be restored, mobile meters will be installed to determine the amount of water used etc.
Due to the rehabilitation of the 4 irrigation systems 6110 agricultural producers operating in the area covered by these systems will benefit from modern irrigation networks and the irrigated land will expand from 600 ha to about 5400 ha.
The rehabilitation of the irrigation systems will also enable the farmers to reduce the operation and maintenance costs, use water in season and beyond seasons and reduce the water losses due to the polyethylene pipes which are resistant to the hydraulic shocks and can be used efficiently for more than 50 years.
Moreover, the competition for construction supervision services for the irrigation systems Jora de Jos (Orhei rayon), Cosnita (Dubasari rayon), Puhaceni and Roscani (Anenii Noi rayon) has recently closed and MCA Moldova has received five bids from companies from France, Romania, Spain, Holland and Moldova.
All the bids are evaluated by a panel of national and international experts with relevant experience and selected through competition in terms of the experience of the companies in similar works, turnover, available equipment and staff etc.
Rehabilitation of the central irrigation systems is one of the objectives of the Compact Agreement signed in early 2010 between the Government of Moldova and the U.S. Government, acting through the Millennium Challenge Corporation, and implemented by the Millennium Challenge Account Moldova. The 262 million USD Compact is a generous grant assistance provided by the American people for the rehabilitation of the road infrastructure and transition to the high value agriculture in order to achieve the global objective of poverty reduction through the economic growth of Moldova.
