This was the message given by Prime Minister Dorin Recean after a meeting of the Cabinet of Ministers on March 5. The prime minister said that the Ministry of Infrastructure and Regional Development, the Public Property Agency and the management of the railway company will propose a plan of reorganization and restructuring of the enterprise, aimed at solving the key problems of the sector and transition to its sustainable development. The sale of the Palace of Railwaymen is not included in this plan, as it will not solve much, the cabinet believes.
“ZDM’s problems cannot be solved by selling the Palace of Railwaymen, a deeper and more comprehensive restructuring of the company is required,” Dorin Recean said. – Deputy Prime Minister Vladimir Bolia has already brought several elements of this program for discussion, they are in the process of completion, in the coming months the company will undergo a transformation”.
The prime minister specified that the sale of the Palace of Railwaymen is not on the agenda of the authorities’ discussions, the government will consider a project to develop this facility and turn it into a Palace of Culture.
Dorin Recean’s statements about the new plan of transformation of the Railway Ministry raise a reasonable question: what about the restructuring program “Moldavian Railways Restructuring Project”, implemented since 2012 under a loan agreement with the EBRD and the European Investment Bank with a budget of 109 million euros? Is it canceled, or is a new plan needed to get new loans.
Meanwhile, the crisis around the WDM is gaining momentum. On March 5, the workers of the Ocnica railway junction notified their superiors that they would stop working from 10.03.2025 until their wage arrears were paid in full. The local trade union committee noted in an appeal to industry colleagues that they supported those workers who had protested earlier and that there were all legal grounds for this.
“As of today, railroad workers have not received their salaries for six to seven months. According to the law, we are giving these notices to our superiors to stop working from March 10, 2025. We ask all others who have not yet joined to support us in order to finally receive the salary, which we are promised everything, but never paid,” – noted in the appeal of the railway workers of the Oknica junction.
Recall, February 28, there were regular protests of workers of all railway hubs in the country. Before that, on February 14, they protested in Chisinau and Balti. Reacting to this, the Ministry of Infrastructure and Regional Development and the administration of the railway company announced that they had initiated a series of measures to financially and operationally stabilize the company, the main priority of which is to pay salaries to employees and eliminate financial losses.
Since then, however, the only thing that has changed is that the acting director of the WDM, Serhiy Tomsha, resigned on February 25.
Whether the new restructuring plan (which one is it already?) will be able to make a real difference is still a big question. Even if the proposed restructuring program proves to be viable and ensures the transition of a strategically important industry to sustainable existence and development, it will not happen soon.
And people are waiting for their salaries today. And they are very determined, as evidenced by the appeal of the Oknitsa railroad workers.
This raises quite reasonable questions. Have the financial problems of the railroad only now manifested themselves? Were there no wage delays before? Did the government have reasons not to react to the situation earlier, without bringing it to protests? And during all this time, have there been no other ideas for solving the problems other than selling the Palace of Railwaymen?
It is clear that these questions can be classified as rhetorical. Although it would be much more correct to get quite specific and substantive answers to them. After all, the railroad is just one indicator of the plight of different sectors of the Moldovan economy.
