OSCE Mission hands over technical assessment report of Gura Bicului-Bychok Bridge to Moldovan Ministry of Economy and Infrastructure

The OSCE Mission to Moldova has handed over a report on a full technical assessment of the Gura Bicului-Bychok Bridge, which connects the two banks of the Dniester/Nistru River, to the Moldovan Ministry of Economy and Infrastructure. It was re-opened by Chisinau and Tiraspol on 18 November 2017, after having been closed to vehicles for 25 years, as part of the Transdniestrian settlement process.

The bridge is part of an international transport corridor linking the port of Odessa to Moldova and the European Union. The bridge is passable for vehicles weighing up to 10 tonnes. In order to realize its full economic potential, the OSCE Mission commissioned a technical assessment. The report offers an estimate of repair works, which are necessary to bring the bridge to its initially designed capacity.

“This technical assessment provides baseline data, which further activities to reconstruct the bridge can build on. This is the first but important milestone of the reconstruction process,” said Deputy Head of the OSCE Mission to Moldova, Antti Karttunen, presenting the report to Svetlana Dogotaru, State Secretary of the Ministry of Economy and Infrastructure.

Improved infrastructure of the bridge holds strong potential for spurring economic development as well as for facilitating further freedom of movement between the two banks of the Dniester/Nistru River. Some progress was observed in this regard in September 2019, when the two Sides agreed on lifting the pre-notification procedure for Moldovan officials on private visits to the left bank.

The re-opening of the bridge is one of the eight confidence-building measures included by Chisinau and Tiraspol in the “Berlin-plus” package of agreements. By bringing the two Sides closer, it prompted signing of five more agreements on access to the Dubasari farmland, the functioning of Latin-script schools on the left bank, the apostilization of Transdniestrian university diplomas and the so-called “licence-plate” agreement. Since 2017, the Sides have reached significant achievements in implementing five of the agreements; easing the lives of the people on both banks.