Public Utility Charges In Minsk Increased By 75% :: Charter'97 :: News

Yesterday during the consultations on draft projections of social and economic development, budget and main directions of money and credit policy of the country in 2006, Alyaksandr Lukashenka promised once again that within a year the growth of the tariffs for public utilities should not be higher than USD 5. He alleged that it was this way in 2005, and the same should take place in the next year. However, it turns out that in reality public utilities charges in some districs of Minsk have raised by more than… 75% (!).

For instance, in Serabranka district, person living in a three-room apartment paid Br 40,000 in May, and 42,00 in June, 50,000 in July, 64,000 Br in August, and 74,000 Br in September.

The main item of expense’s growth is “water warming bill”. In June dwellers of a three-room apartment in Serabranka paid 7.158 Br, and in September this sum has increased by more than 4 times and makes 31,247 Br.

In the housing and municipal services’ offices the indignant citizens are given a strange explanation, that they have exceeded in the limit of hot water (?).

“The financial situation of housing and utilities infrastructure is catastrophic. We are ordered not only economize on everything, but to collect money by any means. The same situation is not only in Lenin district. Payments are to increase everywhere, but maybe under different pretexts. Residents are ready to kill us, but it wasn’t our idea,” told one of the workers of housing and municipal services’ office in Lenin district to the Charter’97 press service.

“Lukashenka is deceiving us as usual. How can he speak about 5 dollars a year, if the growth is more that 15 dollars in four months? And what shall happen when we would pay for central heating in winter?” told a 67-year-old woman living in the building number 33 in Rokossovski avenue.

“We have been promised a complete overhaul for 15 years. I live on the 5th floor, and the roof is leaking constantly. My ceiling is black. But we make allocations for a complete overhaul 10,000 Br every month. Where is this money?” the inhabitant of the same house asks.

“I have read in a newspaper that now the doorways houses are to be cleaned once a week instead of two times. It means that they would be unclean, because our doorway was cleaned once a month before that,” told a woman living in the house 35 in Rokossovski avenue.