One of the most modern sports complexes in the country was inaugurated in Serpeni village, Anenii Noi district. The facility will host regional competitions and was built with EU support in the framework of the Support to Confidence Building Measures programme, implemented by UNDP.

Sports are very popular in Serpeni, a 3,500-people community. There are football, volleyball, basketball, light athletics and free wrestling teams in the village. Until the sports complex was built, teams were queueing at the local school gym. Now, thanks to European funding of over 180,000 euros, the village has a modern facility that can host even regional competitions.

“Rural communities on both banks face the same challenges, one of them being how to ensure attractiveness of more peripheral areas? Part of the answer can be found in this sports complex: to ensure attractiveness, we need to offer a minimum of living quality to the inhabitants, to experience the same changes as any other citizen from more urbanistic areas. In the next CBM programme which will start in 2019, the EU will continue to support the modernization of such socio-economical infrastructures”, mentioned Marco Gemmer, Head of Operations Section at the EU Delegation in the Republic of Moldova.

 “This is another project that wins the hearts and minds of people through building bridges of confidence and trust and establishing platforms for strengthening relationships and cooperation between both banks,” mentioned Dafina Gercheva, UN Resident Coordinator and UNDP Resident Representative in the Republic of Moldova.

Sportspeople from the left bank of the Nistru River joined the inauguration of the facility. “We are witnessing the building of a new bridge of confidence between both banks,” noted Cristina Lesnic, Deputy Prime Minister for Reintegration.

The Town Hall allocated 43,960 euros for the construction works. “The villagers supported the initiative from the beginning. The sports complex is built on the foundation of an old building where trees were growing. Locals volunteered to prepare the field for construction works,” remembers Elena Nicolaev, mayor of Serpeni village.

“This is a dream that came true. Last winters, we were doing our warm-up exercises by clearing the stadium from snow with shovels. When it was raining, it was even harder,” says Vladimir Dogot, sports teacher.

“I’ve been practicing sports since I remember myself. It’s typical for Serpeni. We deserve a modern sports complex,” says Ion Topala, a Serpeni football team player.

The Serpeni Sports Complex is one of the 80 community facilities renovated in the framework of the EU-funded Support to Confidence Building Measures Programme, implemented by UNDP Moldova. The Programme aims to increase trust between people on both banks of the Nistru River by involving local leaders, businesses and civil society in joint business development and improving social infrastructure projects.