PM reveals main reason for housing sector crisis

The main reason for the crisis in the housing sector is the functioning model of this sector, Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Kasyanov declared at the government hour in the State Duma today. He thinks this model cannot provide a normal quality of services or security for citizens.

A new model, according to the Prime Minister, is just being put into practice in several regions of the Russian Federation and it has already produced some positive results (in Moscow, the Chuvash Republic and others). The head of the government pointed to the fact that since the beginning of the heating season some 75 large-scale incidents had occurred at facilities of the housing sector, some 30 percent of them were due to old equipment and the poor readiness of facilities, the other part of the incidents was due to violations of rules of technical maintenance of these facilities. The majority of incidents have been dealt with and the necessary assistance of the government has been rendered, he added. The Emergency Situations Ministry has created special material and technical reserves in regions. At the same time Kasyanov admitted that it was necessary to take measures on reforming the housing sector.