Mikhail Menn has told senators about problems in the sphere of utilities

On January 27^th the spring session of the Federation Council was held, and Mikhail Menn took the floor in the parliamentary hour on urgent problems in the utilities sphere.

As our special correspondent, Elena Matseiko, reported play-by-play, one of the main tasks of the ministry is improving legislation in the sphere of utilities, Menn told the senators. The legislation has already been amended, and now it is time to “burnish” the adopted regulations.

A very important task is the resettlement from the disaster fund. 5m m² of housing which had been acknowledged before January 1^st, 2012, is now to be resettled before September, 2017. The Program is being carried out in a timely manner, the Head of the Ministry remarked.

Much attention is being paid to the quality of the housing being put in operation according to this Program. For example, regional financial responsibility is being introduced for violations of terms and for presenting inadequate reports. The control is very strict, Mikhail Menn assured the senators.

Another large-scale program is major repairs to blocks of flats.

 Currently, 70% of apartment blocks need repairing, the Minister said. 735,000 houses with a total area of 300m m² are to be repaired. The first results are as follows: since the start of the program, 20,000 houses have already been repaired, which is about 80m m². According to the Minister, nobody doubts the efficiency and necessity of the program, but there is still much to be done.

The Ministry plans to initiate a program of credit provision for major repairs, regional operators’ professional training, and working out the mechanisms of financial security for the money accumulated in special accounts.

In the course of the parliamentary hour, Mikhail Menn answered the questions from Federation Council members.

For more details, read about the Minister’s speech, and the problems touched thereupon, on our website.