Bucharest City hall wants to set up 19 companies that would handle various public utility activities that are now delegated to private companies or departments within the city hall.

The municipality wants to control new companies for electricity and heat production and supply, public lighting, hospital management, security, advertising space management, infrastructure projects consultancy, road management, parking management, and even taxi services, according to draft decisions to be discussed in the Bucharest general Council’s meeting on February 28.

If the council approves the decision to establish the 19 companies, Bucharest mayor Gabriela Firea will be delegated to manage this process.

The Bucharest City Hall has already decided to set up a construction company that should build social homes. The Metropolitan Building Trust will have an initial capital of RON 12 million (EUR 2.66 million).

Meanwhile, the municipality’s biggest companies face big financial problems. The heat and electricity producer ELCEN and the heat distributor RADET went into insolvency at the end of last year, due to the high debt levels. The public transport company RATB is also dependent on the subsidies it receives from the city hall.

editor@romania-insider.com

(Photo source: Gabriela Firea on Facebook)