OREANDA-NEWS. November 21, 2011. Members of the National Council for Regional Development's Coordination (CNCDR) today held a meeting chaired by Deputy Prime Minister, Economics Minister Valeriu Lazar. The participants in the event discussed the efficiency of turning to account the money while implementing the regional development projects in 2011, according to the press service of the Constructions and Regional Development Ministry (MDRC).

Regional Development and Constructions Minister Marcel Raducan said the goal of this meeting is to hear a report on the level of implementation of the regional development projects, and if necessary, to take decisions in order to intervene to ensure a successful carrying out of the planned activities and achieve the objectives set within the regional development policy.

The territorial agencies' directors unveiled detailed reports in the projects under implementation, financial means allocated from the National Fund for Regional Development (FNDR), percentage of turning to account and the principal problems in terms of the implementation process' efficiency. The participants in the meeting said about 60 per cent out of approximately 163 million lei earmarked in the FNDR had been spent for concrete projects and to ensure the operational work of the North, Centre and South Development Agencies.

At the same time, agencies' representatives said that, till late 2011, they will manage to use all the allocated money in most projects, except for ones on constructing roads, and the climate conditions will not allow successfully accomplishing the works. Also, the agencies' directors noted that one of the main obstacles to efficiently turning to account the money is the dragging of the payments for the carried out works. This fact influences the economic agents' image and confidence in the state institutions. These enterprises eventually refused to participate in the tender.

Another problem discussed at the meeting was the projects' quality. Referring to this matter, CNCDR head Valeriu Lazar said that, starting from January 2012, the procedure of selecting the projects will be more rigorous, and the agencies should identify efficient filtres needed at the phase of selecting the projects.

At the meeting, the CNCDR members ruled that the Regional Development Agencies undertake all the necessary measures to assimilate the planned financial means. The money that will not be used by late 2011 is to be returned to the state budget and reallocated in 2012 to continue the works, the MDRC press service said.