The Contract with Apa Nova

The contract with Apa Nova is not a secret anymore. It took a lot of critics for the General Mayor to ask the French company to make it public. Five years after the signing, the contract is publicly debated upon. Useless. The termination of the contract would cost the municipality hundreds of millions of euros.

Ironically, five years after the signing, Adriean Videanu, the General Mayor of Bucharest, will start a public debate upon the contract for the leasing of the water and channel services between the Bucharest City Hall and Apa Nova. Starting from yesterday, it isn’t confidential anymore, which doesn’t change the situation at all. There are no significant changes to be made, taking into account that the French have signed an agreement which is in their favor. As for its termination, it is out of the question. It would cost the City Hall a few hundreds of million euros. "The leasing contract is public. It will be published on the Apa Nova website, at www.apabucur.ro, and it will also be available on the City Hall website in a couple of days. We have started this public debate not on the beliefs of certain people, but on facts, in order to fight against statements and ignorant comments of several politicians, as well as the ones in the media", Videanu said.

He admitted there are still some misunderstandings in the relation with Apa Nova regarding the investments’ level and the telescopic networks, but these aspects are to be regulated by an additional document as well.

"I don’t comment on the conditions in which the contract was signed. However, I can tell you that my obligation is to complete this contract, which is a valid commercial contract", the Mayor stated.

MISUNDERSTANDINGS As for the present status of the channel network, Videanu said it was functioning well, but undersized.

"The investments that Apa Nova will have to make after the negotiations is a few times higher than the ones in the present contract. For the next three years, we take into account the extension of the canalization network by 600 kilometers, a common investment that reaches 130 million euros", Videanu also said. However, nothing was put on paper and no precise action plan has been signed. Videanu said he would trust the representatives of Apa Nova.

This is a hazardous decision, taking into account that the French company didn’t do anything in five years. Moreover, Apa Nova hasn’t been penalized by now because of its inexistent activity in the Capital.

"With a council decision, that is to be discussed in a meeting of the General Council, the General Mayor will be empowered to penalize Apa Nova for the inobservance of the investment level", Videanu stated.

There are a lot of reasons for penalizing the contract and one of them is the cost of the cubic meter of water. It had been set at 0.6 euros. Even though the contract says the fee is unchangeable, it was increased six times in the first year. Then they invoked the inflation and the depreciation of the national currency in comparison to the euro. However, the contract reads that the fee should have decreased in steps from five to five years.

THE 5,000 EUROS ROYALTY FEE

According to the leasing contract, the lessee should perform the following duties: the captation, treating and the adequate evacuation of the street and surface drainages through the canalization holes. In the same time, the lessee should exploit, maintain and repair the goods in the public property. The last of the 20 duties of the lessee refers to the general guaranteeing of effective and adequate functioning of the water and canalization services in Bucharest. In case of emergency, the lessee has to supply water for free and continuously to the public fire department and the public hydrants. It also has to install connecting pipes towards them for free, but it shouldn’t be held responsible for their maintenance and modernization after the installation.

"EMERGENCIES" Because we are honored to be its clients the lessee pays every year, according to the contract on the Apa Nova website, a ridiculous royalty fee, with a total value of 5,000 euros, and the value and the terms for the payments can be modified after an agreement between both sides exclusively. In the leasing contract, the compensation fee is set at 100 million euros, the penalization fee at 5 million euros (it can be increased yearly), and the one of the responsibility for the environment at 100 million euros.

According to the agreement, the lessee would have had to prepare, in 12 months time from the validation, an "emergency intervention plan" and to present it to the regulative authorities. The floods are part of the same contract, of the "emergencies" category, the Municipality will have to say whether the respective document exists, who is responsible for it not being applied or who is guilty if it hadn’t been elaborated. (Eliza Popa)