Minister Diana Buzoianu considers the dissolution of the company that caused the water crisis in Prahova: “This ostrich-camel no longer exists anywhere”

Environment Minister Diana Buzoianu declared, in the context of the drinking water crisis in Prahova county, which affects over 100,000 people, that it is possible to consider the dissolution of the Exploatare Sistem Zonal Prahova SA (ESZ) company.

Diana Buzoianu, Minister of the Environment PHOTO: gov.ro

“We believe that after this situation will pass, when an analysis will be done, the Control Body will come with the respective conclusions, it is even possible to consider the dissolution of this company. Because, in the end, it is a company that was created not because people needed it, I repeat, all the other counties in the country operate on a classic system: either a private operator or an operator by the county council. It is not as if in Prahova they could not do the same things. Either of the two options was legitimate. The fact that we have this totally bizarre system works to the disadvantage of people, but also every day. Because, I repeat, people pay much higher prices for water, including this structure.” Buzoianu declared for Cotidianul.

She specified that there are no other counties where you have an operator, a company from Apele Romanian Waters, that only uses half of the process and the rest is from another company at the county level.

“This ostrich-camel doesn't exist anywhere anymore. Either it's private operators in the counties, or it's operators who are from the county council and take care of the whole process. In this case, this company was established that took care of part of the treatment process, which, basically, is a place where, of course, there are very high allowances, very high salaries”said the minister.

She noted that Prahova county has some of the highest water prices in the country.

Diana Buzoianu specified that the dissolution of the ESZ is a scenario to be considered, because the common good of the people who are there, locally, must be taken into account, and it was also very clear from this crisis situation that they are not capable of managing such situations.

“For years they asked for money for all kinds of phantasmagoria and raised the capital for a bunch of sci-fi things. The investments for the pipes and for the basin took them a year. Since March last year, they have been waiting to see if they get money, if they don't, it wasn't necessarily a priority. (…) It's a structure that simply doesn't work properly. I don't know what the process is now, being the sole shareholder Apele Române, I suspect it's a process that it must start from Romanian Waters, according to the legislation for the liquidation of this company. But you understand, I repeat, we are still analyzing, we are considering this scenario, especially after the control body comes, and it is an analysis that must also be done with transitional methods”explained the Minister of the Environment.

The Minister of the Environment, Diana Buzoianu, stated on Tuesday that the Buzău-Ialomiţa Water Basin Administration (ABA) and Zonal System Exploitation (ESZ) Prahova are the institutions that, at the local level, should have taken measures to avoid a situation where more than 107,000 people do not receive drinking water in a centralized system.

“I think that the people who are responsible must be changed urgently. The problem is not that they did not anticipate this situation, the problem is that they anticipated this situation, that they had documents, we have documents that attest to the fact that they knew that this risk existed and that they did not communicate it to the ministry, nor to the population, nor to the mayors, and neither the ESZ, nor the Romanian Waters at the local level Buzau-Ialomiţa took the measures”, Buzoianu added.

When asked who should replace the heads of the two institutions, Diana Buzoianu explained that the director of ABA Buzău-Ialomiţa can be dismissed by the general director of “Apele Române”, and the director of Exploatare Sistem Zonal Prahova can be replaced by the Board of Directors.

“I think there is enough information of a public nature that already shows that this situation cannot be managed with these people,” said the Minister of the Environment.