In the government, it is necessary to appoint a responsible person to solve housing and communal services issues. Recently, State Duma Chairman Vyacheslav Volodin asked Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin to do that.
Do we need a separate Ministry of Housing and Utilities? – contemplates the Chairman of the Committee on Entrepreneurship in the field of housing and communal services of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of the Russian Federation, Doctor of Law Andrey Shirokov.
I fully support the speaker’s proposal. Yes, there is currently the Ministry of Construction and Housing and Utilities in the government. But even from the name, it is evident that its priority is construction; hence the department is commonly referred to as Minstroy. It has a deputy minister responsible for the housing and communal services sector, not even the first one. And under his leadership are only two departments. A mere dozen people are handling all housing and communal services issues in the most geographically extensive country in the world with a colossal volume of accumulated problems!
I will provide some figures. The housing stock in Russia amounts to 4.215 billion square meters. Up to the year 2030, 4.5 trillion rubles are allocated for the modernization of communal infrastructure. We have 18 thousand heat supply organizations, 50 thousand local heating systems, 72 thousand wastewater treatment facilities, 21 thousand sewage pumping stations, and so on.
Yes, Volodin correctly noted that communal issues are mainly dealt with at regional and municipal levels. However, all regulatory framework for the housing and communal services sector is developed and approved at the federal level. Therefore, tackling economic issues of apartment buildings, optimizing tariffs for resource organizations, establishing control over the allocation of funds for the renovation of communal networks, dealing with solid waste collection, and other related themes should also be addressed at the federal level.
The speaker is right in pointing out that not all regions have the resources to maintain housing and communal services. Indeed, federal funds are indispensable in this area. Especially since the recent presidential decree sets forth a series of new ambitious tasks for the housing and communal services sector. This includes landscaping over 30 thousand public areas, implementing a program to modernize communal infrastructure, improving the quality of services provided to 20 million people by 2030, constructing and reconstructing no less than 2,000 water supply and water treatment facilities. Standards are not met everywhere; more than 25% of the population currently consume poor-quality water. Accomplishing these monumental tasks will require enormous resources that must be managed wisely.
I believe that the optimal solution could be establishing not just a “responsible person” in the government but a separate ministry dedicated to housing and communal services. In other sectors with fewer funds and problems, there are specialized agencies. Ideally, at the regional level as well, separate governing bodies should handle housing and communal services issues.