Bălți


Bălți is a city in Moldova. It is the second largest city in terms of population, area and economic importance, after Chișinău. The city is one of the five Moldovan municipalities. Sometimes also called "the northern capital", it is a major industrial, cultural and commercial centre and transportation hub in the north of the country. It is situated north of the capital Chișinău, and is located on the river Răut, a tributary of the Dniester, on a hilly landscape in the Bălți steppe.

Name

The word "bălți" in direct translation means "puddle". It is believed that the city had been named thus because it was founded on a hill dominating the wetland formed where the creek Răuțel falls into the river Răut.
In addition to the official name Bălți and the Russian name Бельцы, between 1940–1989 in Moldovan Cyrillic alphabet, and after 1989 in Russian, the name was/is also rendered in Cyrillic as Бэлць.

History and symbols

Coat of arms

The current coat of arms and flag of Bălți, elaborated by Silviu Tabac from the Moldovan State Commission for Heraldry, have been adopted by the Municipal Council in April 2006.
A shield, with alternating six silvery strips, and six blue strips form the background. The central element of the shield is an archer in red clothes, in the military outfit of Stephen III of Moldavia times. The archer represents the medieval military recruitment, formed by local free peasants.
On top of the shield there is a silver crown in the shape of fortress wall, with seven towers. The shield is supported by two rearing silver horses. Under the shield there is a ribbon with the Latin inscription CEDANT ARMA TOGAE, meaning let arms yield to the toga.
In the Middle Ages, the archer was featured on the coats of arms of the region. In the 19th century, the city and district coats of arms also featured a horse head. In the early 20th century, a shield representing an archer, standing on a hill, the sun, and three bullrush sticks formed the coat of arms of the Bălți county, while these and horse elements - the coat of arms of the city proper.

Flag

The city's flag is composed of two horizontal strips: a blue one on the bottom, and a silver one on top. The shield and archer elements from the coat of arms are also present in the centre of the flag.

Geography

Bălți is situated on the tops and slopes of three hills and in two small valleys. The land in the north of Moldova is very fertile, mostly consisting of black earth or chernozem. Several extraction sites for raw materials used in the construction industry are also found in the vicinity of Bălți. The creeks Răuțel, Copăceanca, and Flămândă cross the territory of the municipality, and flow into the river Răut. Also, several lakes are situated in Bălți: City Lake, Komsolskoe Lake, Hunters and Fishermen Lake, Strâmba Lake.
The municipality covers an area of, of which the city proper, the village Elizaveta , and the village Sadovoe . Of these, an important portion is agriculturally cultivated.

Neighbourhoods

The city itself is located on portions of three hills. The river Răut separates one of the hills to the north-east, the slopes of this hill are occupied by the neighbourhood Slobozia. Răut's affluent Răuțel separates another hill in the south, the slopes of which are the Podul Chișinăului district. The largest of the three hills dominates the valleys of the creek and river, and contains the city centre and the old town, and the neighbourhoods Pământeni, Dacia, 6th district, 8th district, the city's main industrial area, and Moldova neighbourhood. The top of this hill is occupied by the medical facilities district. Bălții Noi neighborhood is situated in the valley of the Răuțel creek.
A Soroca neighbourhood, 10th district, 9th district, the area of the former Bălți concentration camp, and the Bălți City Airport are situated in the valley of the Răut river.
The names of city neighborhoods reflect different historic influences, such as names of 19th century suburbs that are nowadays within city limits: Pământeni, Slobozia, Molodova, Podul Chișinăului, Bălții Noi; others are known by their Soviet-era names: 6th district, 8th district, 9th district. A neighbourhood in the northern part of the city is called Dacia, and is colloquially sometimes referred to as BAM. A district in the eastern part is known as 10th district.

Climate

Bălți has a warm-summer humid continental climate. The all-time maximum temperature registered in the city was, the all-time minimum. There are 450 to of annual rainfall, mostly during summer and fall. Winds are generally from the north-east or the north-west at about 2–5 m/s.

Seismology

The city is situated in the 7th zone of seismic activity, with a well-felt earthquake occurring every 35 years on average.

Cityscape

Architecture

Cultural venues in the city include:
Churches:

Entertainment and performing arts

Theaters:
Museums and art galleries:
List of FM radio stations from Bălți as of 4 July 2009.
Bălți is a source of civil society development both locally and nationwide. Bălți is home to numerous independent and apolitical organisations such as Second Breath, one of the Moldovan NGOs for care of socially vulnerable persons, Tinerii pentru Dreptul la Viață, a youth organisation.

Sports

Historically Bălți was known for producing tobacco. They also had many vineyards and orchards.
Most of the city's industry centres on food processing, notably in the production of flour, sugar, and wine. Manufacturing of furniture and agricultural machinery also plays an important role in Bălți's economy.
The service sector has developed after 1989 to cover the basic needs of the population.

Manufacturing

This city is an important economic centre, with manufacturing playing an important role. Besides traditional for Moldova wine making, sugar, meat processing, flour milling, oil production, and light industry in general, Bălți is the centre for manufacturing of agricultural machinery, of various construction materials, fur, textile, chemical and furniture industries. A mammoth Soviet-type conglomerate 8,000-worker factory produced a large variety of machine building products for consumer or industry use, from irons and telephone sets to sonar equipment for Soviet military submarines. However, due to swift changes in the economic environment after the breakdown of the Soviet planned economy system, the manufacturing base of the city has severely suffered. Nevertheless, more recently, new economic ties are being created, with collaboration and direct investment mostly from the European Union.
Lisa Dräxlmaier GmbH celebrated the inauguration of its second plant in Moldova. The facility, which will be located in Balti, will produce wiring harnesses. The plant has about of production and logistics space.

Shopping

Bălți has several major shopping chain outlets, such as the German Metro Group AG, Ukrainian Fourchette and Moldovan Fidesco.
Numerous shops, can be found in the central, eastern and northern parts of the city. The biggest shopping galleries are located in the centre and in the Dacia district of the city. Souvenir boutiques are mostly found around the central square Vasile Alecsandri. The central market is open from early morning.
A variety of small private stores and supermarkets are available. There are also six public-owned and four private-owned markets. More recently several supermarket chains have opened stores in the city.

Tourist industry

The city has a big Republican hospital, another multifunctional municipal hospital, a children's hospital, and a range of other medical facilities.

Demographics

As per 2014 census preliminary results, 105,000 inhabitants live within the Bălți municipality limits. This represents a 17.7% drop in the number of residents as opposed to the results of the 2004 census.
According to the 2004 Moldovan Census, data submitted by the Department of Statistics and Sociology of the Republic of Moldova, the population of municipality of Bălți was 127,561, of which the population of the city itself was 122,669, and that of the suburban villages of Elizaveta and Sadovoe was of 3,523, respectively 1,369. Of these, 58,418 were men and 69,143 were women.
Ethnic groups, 2014:
EthnicityNumber%
Romanian / Moldovan59,89758.46
Ukrainian17,45017.03
Russian15,14614.78
Bulgarian1790.17
Gagauz1220.12
Other1,5951,56
Not declared8,0307.84

The population of Bălți in accordance with available census data.
Year18971930195919701979198920042014
Population18,50030,57067,666105,505126,950161,475127,561102,457

Religion

At the 2004 census, 90.7% of the population identified themselves as Christian Orthodox, 2.1% as Baptist, 0.8% as Catholic, 0.5% as Seventh-day Adventist, 0.4% as Pentecostal, 0.2% as Methodist, 0.1% as Evangelical, 0.09% as Muslim, 0.06% as Presbyterian, 0.04% as Old Believers, 0.04% as Reformed, 1.8% as followers of other religions, 0.4% as atheist, and 2.7% as non-religious.

Social aspects

The post-independence decrease in the city population is mainly due to the economic and demographic situation of Moldova, which prompted a wave of permanent or temporary emigration.
Remittances from the migrant workers account for 30% of Moldova's GDP, the highest percentage in all of Europe. Often, elderly relatives and children of these workers are left to live in Bălți.
The majority of the population of Bălți is bilingual, but some people only know one of these two languages. Many people in the city also understand and/or speak Ukrainian.

Pre-WWII Jewish Community

"Between the two world wars, the Jewish community of Bălți was a vibrant population of trade, industry and culture, Zionism and Yiddish, political parties and youth movements. Bălți was the second largest populated city in Bessarabia, with the second largest number of Jewish inhabitants after Kishinev, and the economic center of the region. In the official 1930 census, Bălți was listed as having 14,229 Jewish residents, about 60% of its total population.
"Following the Molotov-Ribbentrop Agreement, Bălți was absorbed into the Soviet Union in the summer of 1940, coming under Soviet rule.
"On 22 June 1941, the Germans invaded the USSR. On 9 July, Bălți was occupied by German and Romanian armies, and waves of abuse and murder began. At the end of July, the German units and Gestapo officers left the city in the hands of the Romanians. In September 1941 the last of the Jews of Bălți– some 2,800 people – were expelled to the Mărculești Camp, and the Jewish population of the city ceased to exist. In Mărculești, many members of the community died, and the rest were deported to Transnistria."

Government

Bălți Municipality is a territorial unit of Moldova, containing the city itself, and the villages of Elizaveta and Sadovoe.
The Mayor Office is headed by the Mayor, and administers the local affairs, while the Municipal Council serves as a consultative body with some powers of general policy determination. It is composed of 35 council members elected every four years. As a result of the last regional elections of local public administration held in June 2007, the Communist Party holds 21 mandates, 11 mandates are held by representatives of other parties, and 3 mandates by independents. There are two factions in the Municipal Council: the PCRM faction and "Meleag" faction.
The Mayor of the municipality is elected for four years. Vasile Panciuc, PCRM, is the incumbent from 2001 and was re-elected twice: in 2003 during the anticipated elections, and in 2007.

Politics

Until recently, voters in the Bălți municipality mainly supported the PCRM. This is explained by the fact that the municipality contains a large Russian-speaking minority which primarily votes Communist. However, support for the Communists has seen a steady decline in the last three elections.
YearAEIPCRM
201038.35% 24,49656.89% 36,348
July 200938.93% 22,14758.16% 33,091
April 200924.92% 13,24356.43% 29,980

Elections

Summary of 28 November 2010 Parliament of Moldova election results in Balti Municipality
! style="background:#e9e9e9; text-align:center;" colspan=2|Parties and coalitions
! style="background:#e9e9e9; text-align:right;"|Votes
! style="background:#e9e9e9; text-align:right;"|%
! style="background:#e9e9e9; text-align:right;"|+/−

Military

The 1st Motorized Infantry Brigade "Moldova" of the Moldovan Land Forces Command is located in Bălți. A unit of Soviet "Tochka-M" short-range rockets, each carrying of conventional explosive, was known to be based in the city. No up to date information is available.

Education

Primary and Secondary Education

There are 13 lyceums and 6 professional education institutions offering the last 3 years of high school education and 2 years post-high school technical education. Also, 14 secondary schools, 7 professional or professional-technical schools, and 3 boarding schools, including one for visually impaired are located in the city.

Higher education

These schools teach either in Romanian, Russian, Ukrainian, English or are mixed. The latter case was inherited from the Soviet system, which provided for education in Russian and Romanian languages, where mixed schools were created with the administration being carried out in both languages.

Historical monuments and architecture

Public transport

Passenger transport in Bălți is handled mainly by the Bălți Trolleybus Authority and Bălți Bus Authority, as well as by private bus, minibus and taxi companies. The total number of passengers transported in Bălți in 2004 was 35.4 million.
There are around 25 minibus lines in Bălți and its agglomeration. The Bălți Bus Authority provides regular bus routes only in suburbs. There are also private bus and minibus services, which are not regulated by the B.B.A., provides regular routes in Bălți.
There are 3 trolleybus lines in Bălți, the fourth line being planned to be constructed in future. Most trolleybuses used by the Bălți Trolleybus Authority are different modifications of the Soviet ZiU-682, one Czech Škoda-14Tr13/6M, three Belorussian АКСМ-20101, and seven Russian Trans-Alfa 5298.00.
Bălți offers a choice of taxi services, most of which operate for a fixed fee in the inner city. Three taxi companies are branches of Moldovan national companies, two taxi companies are Bălți registered businesses.

Road

Bălți is an important transportation hub of Moldova. The best inter-city transportation is done by coach or van. of Soviet-style highway connect the city to the capital Chișinău. By road one can also reach Ukraine to the north or to the east, and Romania to the south-west by the Sculeni-Sculeni crossing point, which leads to the Romanian city of Iași, or to the west by the Stânca-Costești crossing.
The Bălți Inter-City Coach Station provides for regular bus connections throughout Moldova, as well as for numerous European and international connections.

Rail

Regular rail connections to Ocnița, Rezina and Ungheni, as well as to Chișinău exists, however it takes today 6 hours to cover the to Chișinău. The railway lines are not electrified, and contain only a single track between stations. Since Moldova gained independence, the railway lines became the responsibility of Calea Ferată din Moldova state company.
There are two railway stations: Bălți-City Station and Bălți-Slobozia Station, which both serve internal and international traffic.

Air

The city also has two operational airports. One of them, Bălți International Airport, north of the city center, was built in the 1980s, modern by Soviet standards, is officially certified. Large aircraft can land, it operates both charter passenger and cargo flights. As of October 2007, it does not operate regular passenger flights.
A second airport, for small aircraft, Bălți City Airport, is located on the Eastern outskirts of the city. It was the most important airport in the surrounding region during World War II, but currently is only used for municipal and regional public services, agriculture, emergency services and pilot training.Now, there are developing an industrial area.

Notable people

Twin towns – sister cities

Bălți is twinned with: