The first regional planning workshop for regional and local roads in the South region

The project "Modernization of Local Public Services" (MLPS) was initiated in 2010 with the support of the German Agency for International Development (GIZ) and is being implemented by the consortium GOPA. The general objective of the project is to improve local public services in villages and towns of the Republic of Moldova. The main beneficiary of the project is the Ministry of Regional Development and Construction (MRDC), regional development agencies and Regional Development Councils (RDA and RDC), and communities from the North, Centre and South.

The area of intervention of "Regional planning and Programming" by MLPS started in 2012 and provides support for MRDC and the South RDA for the planning and programming process in the following sectors:

• Water supply and sanitation,
• Solid waste management,
• Energy efficiency and
• Regional and local roads (from 2014).

The "National Development Strategy for Moldova 2020 "is focused on seven development priorities, one of the leading priorities is to increase public investment in the infrastructure of national and local roads in order to reduce transportation costs and improve accessibility.

National Strategy for Regional Development 2013-2015 aims at developing and promoting integrated planning by participating in the regional development process. It involves regional projects aimed at solving problems especially the rehabilitation of the infrastructure, water supply and sanitation, roads, etc...

Regional development strategies in North, Centre and South establish priorities for basic infrastructure rehabilitation which includes the construction and rehabilitation of roads, local bridges, and the modernization development of regional access routes and international connections.

The workshop was attended by Igor Malai, Chief Deputy of the Directorate-General for Regional Development and Eugen Gîrlea, principal consultant at MRDC, specialists from the South Regional Development Agency, consultants from GIZ, representatives S.A. "Roads", District Councils, as well as other participants.

The workshop contained 3 training sessions:

• The context of regional planning and programming;
• The current situation of the regional and local Roads in the regions;
• The approach to drawing up plans in for regional and local roads,

It ended with a session of questions and answers on the establishment of actions to be undertaken by the members of the working groups.

We reiterate, workshop No.1 was aimed at launching activities of regional working groups and their involvement in the formulation of regional and local issues relating to roads and their accessibility. This workshop is part of round-table discussions focused on strengthening capacity building for regional and local planning.