The construction of the building with D+P+9E height regime (basement, parterre plus 9 floors), located in Durlesti, Tudora Vladimirescu Street, lasted from 2017 to 2020. The inspection verified compliance with the legal regulations in force at that time, starting from the issuance of permits, design, construction works to the acceptance and operation of the facility.
Violations began already at the stage of issuing permits. Initially, the Durlesti City Hall apparently refused to issue permits to the developer, because the town planning certificate was obtained on the basis of a court decision in March 2017. The provision of the master town planning plan limiting the building area and the height regime established for the area was completely ignored. The minimum distance from the axis of the street to the high-voltage power line was also not observed.
Despite this, all necessary approvals were obtained from the state supervisory bodies – National Public Health Agency, Environmental Protection Agency, State Supervision of Fire Fighting Measures, Emergency Rescue and Fire Services.
A number of violations were also recorded at the design stage. Despite the fact that the project was initially developed by certified specialists, it suffered from certain deficiencies. Location and height norms, safety norms for evacuation in case of fire were not fully complied with. The distances between apartments and evacuation routes were exceeded, the required number of stairwells was not provided for a sufficiently large number of living areas. Surprisingly, the authorized specialists who checked the project turned a blind eye to this and issued a positive opinion without pointing out obvious non-compliance with the norms.
According to Law No. 721/1996 on quality in construction, which was in force at that time, the construction site must keep a Technical Log, which is a mandatory document. But it was not submitted to the controllers. And INST has no evidence of its completion by the person in charge of technical supervision, the designer and the construction manager, including no evidence of the transfer of the building to the administrator under the acceptance certificate.
The designer stated that he did not carry out author’s supervision on this object, did not design the attic, and as the author, did not issue an opinion on the final acceptance. At the same time, the acceptance certificate signed by the chief engineer of the project confirms that the works were carried out in accordance with the working design, which is not true.
In 2019, the customer decided to increase the height to 9 floors. And achieves this again by a court decision, on the basis of which a new urban planning certificate was issued. This decision was made in the absence of a certified technical expertise on the possibility of adding additional floors.
Nevertheless, the acceptance commission accepted the residential building into operation with the new high-rise mode without a positive opinion of the competent authority in the field of fire safety.
Violations were also noted at the stage of building operation. INST found the presence of unauthorized reconstructions at the entrance level, including the construction of another three-storey residential building on the same plot, located under the high-voltage line and outside the permitted plot boundaries. It also found evidence of interference by tenants on the top attic floor, which is prohibited by the Housing Act.
The inspection reports that the materials of the inspection were transferred to law enforcement agencies to take the necessary measures in accordance with the law. It should be noted that poor quality of construction works may entail criminal liability, according to Article 257 of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Moldova.
