Kyiv finally noticed the critical situation with heating in Kryvyi Rih and… held a meeting
22 November 2024 15:16
An urgent meeting on the critical situation with the heating season in Kryvyi Rih was held by First Deputy Minister of Community and Territorial Development Vasyl Shkurakov. This was reported on the website of the ministry, "Komersant Ukrainian" reports.
As of November 21, 934 residential buildings, 11 health care facilities, including Kryvyi Rih City Hospital No. 16, which has an inpatient department, 43 educational institutions, and a territorial social protection center were without heat. This is about 110,000 residents who are still without heating.
During the meeting, the First Deputy Minister heard reports from the city authorities, the regional military administration, representatives of Naftogaz and Kryvyi Rih CHP.
Here are the first general conclusions of the meeting:
– disruption of the heating season is unacceptable as the lives and health of tens of thousands of people depend on it,
– all responsible parties must act as efficiently as possible to resolve the problem as soon as possible.
For a general understanding of the situation, it is worth reminding that Kryvyi Rih has been experiencing problems with the start of the heating season for several years.
Why Kryvyi Rih has problems with heating
The peculiarity of the situation in Kryvyi Rih is that the city is actually divided into two parts according to the “heat index”. The part that is serviced by Kryvyi Rih’s Kryvyi Rih Heat Network, which is subordinated to the city community, has heat. And the part that falls under the responsibility of Kryvyi Rih Heating Plant, which is owned by Naftogaz of Ukraine and over which the local community and the city government have no influence at all, is without heat. This was the case last year, and it is the case now.
Yuriy Vilkul, the acting mayor of Kryvyi Rih, also drew attention to this circumstance in an appeal to the Prime Minister of Ukraine Denys Shmyhal. He asks the Prime Minister to immediately intervene in the situation with Kryvyi Rih Heating Plant, owned by Naftogaz of Ukraine, which has disrupted the heating season and left hundreds of residential buildings in Kryvyi Rih without heating.
“The city’s leadership understands the objective difficulties associated with the destruction of pipes when they stood empty without water after the destruction of the Kakhovka reservoir by the racist occupiers, water hammering on the networks after missile attacks, and lack of staff. But the Kryvyi Rih district heating company, which provides heat to the other half of the city and is subordinated to the city community, is still providing heating to its subscribers under the same conditions. Therefore, we ask for the Prime Minister’s immediate intervention to stop the abuse of the residents of our city,” the appeal says.
What will happen next with heating in Kryvyi Rih
The problem has once again reached the central level, as they say. The Ministry of Communities and Territories Development, city and regional authorities, and Naftogaz joined the meeting.
Following the meeting, it was decided to prepare an emergency plan to restore heat supply to all customers as soon as possible, which should include clear deadlines, responsible persons and a daily reporting mechanism.
The same Ministry of Economic Development, Naftogaz, regional and city authorities will monitor the solution to the heating problem. In addition, the issue of heat supply in Kryvyi Rih will be under constant control of the Headquarters for Preparation for the Heating Season.
So, as they say in such cases, there is hope.
But for some reason, the State Emergency Service, apparently just in case, says that it is ready to deploy additional Unbreakable Points together with local authorities if necessary.
And the acting mayor of Kryvyi Rih, Yuriy Vilkul, also apparently just in case, is asking the Prime Minister to consider amending Ukrainian legislation to allow individual apartments to switch to individual heating, which has been virtually impossible under Ukrainian law since 2009.
