Bucharest prefect Mihai Cristian Atanasoaei met Thursday with representatives of the Competition Council, the governments of sectors 1, 2, 3, 4 and 6 and deputy general mayor Mircea Raicu to discuss the issue of sanitation in the city following a ruling by the Bucharest Court of Appeals to terminate the sanitation service contracts signed by sector mayors.
“The sectors have announced they would appeal the ruling. The appeal suspends the ruling’s implementation, meaning that, until the ruling becomes final, the sectors may continue with the sanitation service contracts. Sector 5 had no contract for such a public service,” says a Prefecture press release.
Sector 2 Hall stated Wednesday that it would not challenge the court’s ruling.
The Bucharest Court of Appeals has decided to terminate the sanitation contracts signed by the General City Hall and the authorities of sectors 1, 2, 3, 4 and 6, and compel them to hold new procurement auctions for these services.
The suit was brought by the Competition Council, Romania’s competition watchdog, for the Bucharest authorities’ failure to conform to a 2009 order to reestablish a competitive environment in the city’s sanitation market. The watchdog’s investigation between February 2008 and December 2009 revealed the authorities had breached the Competition Law by extending sanitation contracts without holding new auctions to select the providers of these services.