More than three weeks ago, we were wondering – somewhat rhetorically – if Sighisoara will remain unswept and unwashed from October? Really snow-free when winter comes? What was still an uncertainty more than three weeks ago, today has become a definite reality. Who suffers? Of course, the people of Sighișoara, caught up in interests that are not theirs.
How did it get here? Simple.
The former concessionaire of the cleaning, waste collection and transport, snow removal services from Sighisoara – the company Schuster Ecosal – has expired the concession contract for the provision of sweeping and washing services, respectively snow removal of the public domain in the municipality, and the local councilors did not want to extend it by additional act, on the other hand, the company terminated the waste collection and transport contract with the Intercommunity Development Association (ADI) Ecolect for reasons not attributable to the Sighisoara operator.
But let’s take them one at a time.
On August 31, Schuster Ecosal requested the City Hall and the Sighisoara Local Council to extend the concession contract for sanitation and snow removal services, concluded for a period of 10 years.
Despite this request, the mayor of Sighisoara, Iulian Sîrbu, put on the agenda of the meeting of the City Council on September 29, the draft decision regarding the direct assignment of the street sweeping-washing service, that of snow removal and other services related to the sanitation of the city to the company Ecoserv Sig, fully owned by the local council. Ecoserv Sig did not, at that time, have an ANRSC license, had no experience in such a field, did not have a sufficient fleet of machines necessary to provide these services, did not have an environmental permit, etc. We will return to these aspects below.
On September 29, gathered in an ordinary meeting, the local councilors from Sighisoara, with one abstention – Călin Stupariu, from PMP, who was also the chairman of the meeting, voted the draft decision on the assignment of the service, with all related documents, delegation contract , specifications, etc. And despite some legal oddities, with illegal iz, namely the general establishment of the amount of the royalty and the failure to specify the value of the rates at which the services will be provided.
Response within 34 days
I mentioned above that Schuster Ecosal requested the extension of the contract on August 31. Sighișoara City Hall “decided” to respond after 34 days, despite the legal deadline of 30 days… In the address of October 5, signed this time by the deputy mayor Bogdan Burghelea, it is explained to the company Schuster Ecosal that, taking into account the deadline of the concession contract, the direct assignment of street sweeping-washing services, respectively snow removal according to the vote of the local councilors given on September 29, the termination of the waste collection and transport contract concluded by Schuster Ecosal with ADI Ecolect and the opening of insolvency proceedings against the former concessionaire, the town hall does not consider it appropriate to extend the contract. In parentheses, it should be said that the registration of a file regarding the opening of insolvency proceedings does not automatically mean that insolvency proceedings will be initiated against the company, and the deputy mayor should have known this, being a lawyer by profession.
In response to the address of the town hall, on the same day of October 5, Schuster Ecosal informs the Town Hall and the Sighisoara Local Council, through an address, that starting from October 23, the date on which the concession contract expires, the company will no longer provide any of the sanitation service because ADI Ecolect, which has been committed since 2019 to transform the sorting station in the municipality into a transfer station, has not fulfilled this obligation, so that waste storage cannot be carried out under legal conditions, respectively because the beneficiary of the services does not want to pay the related fee. The beneficiary we are talking about is also the Sighisoara City Hall, which informed ADI Ecolect and the Mureș County Council on October 12 that the waste collection and transport service will only be operated from January 1, 2023 in the Integrated Waste Management System because there were no allocated funds to pay for this service, more precisely the fee for the municipal waste collection activity.
Ecoserv Sig, also without authorization
So, Schuster Ecosal no longer cleans or collects and transports waste, and on the other hand, Ecoserv has not submitted the due diligence to obtain at least the environmental authorization to provide at least the street sweeping and washing service, because the license ANRSC can’t even be talked about yet.
As the representatives of the Environmental Protection Agency informed us, Ecoserv Sig had not submitted the documentation for the request for the environmental permit by the time of publication, a process that takes at least 60 days if the file is complete.
And without the environmental authorization, according to the legislation in the field, neither the street sweeping, washing, snow removal service, nor the collection and transportation of waste can be provided. More clearly, the provision of these services without an environmental permit is prohibited.
Clean-dirty in Sighisoara
Consequently, what started almost a month ago as a question turned into a statement today.
Sighisoara remains unswept, unwashed and most likely also unsnowed, services that should be provided by a company that has not even undertaken the action of submitting documentation for the environmental authorization, that does not have an ANRSC license, nor does it have an indispensable infrastructure for the realization the activities listed in the delegation contract and in the specifications, but not enough equipment to allow it to carry out the previously mentioned services in optimal conditions – given that the volume of work has been significantly increased as I wrote in the article of September 28. However, the company was gifted by the Sighisoara Local Council, its sole shareholder, with a handsome 35-year contract – we no longer insist on the excessive duration of the contract – for reasons that, let me say, escape us, that much while the ones that should prevail – the economic ones were not even presented and even less demonstrated.
And, again, I can’t help but remember that no competitive procedure was organized for entrusting these services, which would have meant more operators participating in the competition, and the competition would most likely have ensured lower rates for the people of Sighișoara .
As for how promptly the Sighisoara mayors answered me, that is, I never felt the need to ask them anything. If they want, I’m waiting for them to write to me, I have the same phone number and the same email address.
Ligia VORO
Photo source: depositphotos.com
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