ULYANOVSK TO BECOME RUSSIA’S FIRST BANKRUPT CITY

Ulyanovsk City Hall owes the utility AO Ulyanovskenergo nearly 3 times the city’s revenues while the losses of heat due to lack of pipe insulation are estimated at Rbs1bn, Sergei Kiriyenko, the President’s plenipotentiary to the Privolzhski Federal District, says. In his words, the energy crisis in the city has been prepared for the past 5 years. Mr. Kiriyenko expressed surprise at the disappearance of the funds for the energy conservation programme implied in the tariffs, IMA-press reports. According to Mr. Kiriyenko, of Rbs256mn transferred to the region in 2000 as little as Rbs7mn has arrived in the region’s centre. At present, a protocol is being prepared to oblige the utility to turn on heat in the city’s apartments. In case it fails to, external management will be imposed there on the part of the parent utility RAO UES, and external finance management on the part of the federal centre will be imposed in the city.