The dispute between Chișinău City Hall and Termoelectrica moved on Friday evening, 16 October 2026, to Vadul lui Vodă Street in the Ciocana district. Moldova 1 reported on Saturday that workers had cut recently laid asphalt to replace a damaged heating pipe. Mayor Ion Ceban accuses an intervention without permits. The company says it is an emergency, that the law requires it to act quickly, and that it will restore the roadway.

Work began around 21:00 at Vadul lui Vodă 7/1. Police closed the stretch until Monday, 19 October, at 06:00, and advised drivers to use Uzinelor Street and Podul Înalt. Ceban wrote that Termoelectrica had come “like thieves” and “torn up” a new road. Those are the mayor’s accusations, not a court finding.

Termoelectrica says the DN 800 pipe, more than 30 years old, failed under the carriageway near pumping station No. 8 and supplies more than 100,000 residents. The Râșcani network chief, Alexandru Panovici, described round-the-clock shift changes. Director Iurie Razlovan said they had looked at working without cutting the asphalt, but a bend in the pipe made that impossible; the pipe is corroded and silted. Television sometimes spells his name Razlovaan — the same person quoted in the Cathedral-square dispute.

On PRO TV Chișinău, Razlovan added that an emergency does not necessarily mean hot water in the street and that treated heating water is expensive to lose. The company says it will fit a pre-insulated pipe. City Hall says it will go to court, including on this case. Until a ruling, the two accounts sit side by side.

Residents filmed by Moldova 1 complained about the order of works: underground first, then the road. The quarrel is not new. Earlier this month, in the Metropolitan Cathedral square, the municipality blocked access and police opened the site at Termoelectrica’s request. There, as here, the city talks about permits and the company about a heating emergency.

This article does not decide who is right and is not a technical opinion on the main heating pipe.

Image: Alexander Murvanidze, CET-1 entrance at the Tudor Vladimirescu / Vadul lui Vodă crossing, Chișinău, CC BY-SA 3.0, Wikimedia Commons; archive of the plant at that crossing, not the 16 October 2026 night works.

Sources consulted: O noua disputa intre Primaria Chisinau si Termoelectrica: Reparatii urgente si asfalt spart pe strada Vadul lui Voda - Moldova 1; Termoelectrica explica interventia de pe strada Vadul lui Voda, dupa acuzatiile lansate de Ion Ceban - PRO TV Chisinau.