According to Deputy Minister for Construction and Housing Maintenance and Utilities of Sverdlovsk Region Bogdan Protsyk, last year’s heating season was quite smooth. There were only a few serious and costly breakdowns in Verkhnyaya Salda and Nizhnyaya Salda that the ministry believes had been caused by depreciation of equipment and maintenance facilities, insufficient funding of housing repairs by the local budget, and huge electricity, heating, and fuel bills.

9 billion RUR were invested in housing maintenance and utilities in 2006, with another 1.8 billion contributed by the regional government to cover the cities’ fuel bills.

‘Most of public services’ facilities are worn out by 60% to 90%, with only a few municipalities (Achit, Asbest, Gornouralskiy, Kranoturinsk) doing a little better,’ Mr. Protsyk said.