Glass factory in Chisinau under threat of closure

The glass factory in Chisinau, which annually brings tens of millions of lei to the state budget, may cease its activities, and more than 380 employees are at risk of losing their jobs.

This may be due to the fact that the only furnace supporting the process is in an unusable condition, having expired two years ago. However, the administration of the state enterprise collected only half of the amount needed to repair the equipment, point.md reports with reference to tvrmoldova.md.

The only working oven out of four at the Chisinau Glass Factory was repaired in 2017. Since then, there has been no further investment in equipment.

The glass melting furnace is the most important equipment of the plant. Its production capacity is about 200 tons per day. However, the furnace is in a state of disrepair and requires urgent overhaul. Due to high temperatures, some of its components began to melt, and experts do not exclude that the system may eventually fail. This happened in 2016, when a malfunction in the furnace caused the factory to stop operations for a year, and employees lost their jobs. People fear that the situation may repeat itself.

"The reconstruction and modernization of this furnace will require about 12-14 million euros. We are going to conclude a contract with creditors in the local market and are already negotiating," the plant representative said.

"We are considering several options. The first option is to reinvest the profit already received by the company. The amount of profit this year amounted to more than 44 million lei, and the amount that we want to reinvest, which should have gone to the state budget, is more than 22 million lei," - said Tatyana Sava, Deputy General Director of the Public Property Agency.

The administrator says that the work on repairing the stove will begin in the fall and will be carried out in stages. Three production and packaging lines are also in need of reconstruction. The cost of the work can reach 30 million euros, money that the company does not have.

The factory produces about 12 million bottles and jars every month, or more than 150 million units per year. Almost 80 percent of production is exported, mainly to the European Union. The average salary of an employee is over 14,600 lei.

Source: https://gagauzinfo.md/