OREANDA-NEWS. On June 15, 2009 the Verkhovna Rada has approved a draft law, elaborated in synergy by the Government and Parliament, “On making changes into the Law of Ukraine “On the National Program of Reformation and Development of Housing and Communal Economy for 2004-2010”.

The Minister of Housing and Communal Services Olexii Kucherenko informed during a briefing at the Cabinet of Ministers that the mentioned program envisages including a series of changes into reformation of housing and communal economy, called to ensure its effective functioning and providing qualitative services to the citizens.

The Minister also noted the program of reformation of the branch stipulates for the state to maintain a more strict control over keeping license conditions by the companies dealing with transportation and supplies of heat and water.

Thereupon Olexii Kucherenko accentuated that the main objective of the reformation blueprint appears making the country, local self-government and private sector to be real partners. At this, as he put it, the most effective forms of administration of private public partnership are concessions.

Together with that, Olexii Kucherenko emphasized the program contains the funds to the tune of UAH 23.5 billion to be allocated for a period of 5 years to ensure co-financing by the state of a part of its liabilities of such partnership. “But rather crucial is the following element: if the country gives UAH 10, local self-government body, investors have to give not less than UAH 7,” the Minister added.

Olexii Kucherenko also underlined one of the main tasks in reforming the branch, envisaged by the draft law, is elaboration of a mechanism of transition by Ukrainian housing and communal economies to 100% economically grounded tariffs till 2014. “The main goal of the program is to reach the end of 2014 with practically 100% tariffs in prime cost coverage… It is when owing to regulation the norms of water losses will be 15-20%, as it is in Europe, instead of 50%, norms of heat losses in the networks – 3.5% instead of 20% we have nowadays. Only then such tariffs can be considered real, economically-grounded and only then such tariffs have to cover 100% expenditures of communal enterprises by the end of 2014,” he explained.

Together with that, according to him, the draft law envisages the need to create a special regulation commission to control activity of companies-monopolists of housing and communal area.

Moreover, Olexii Kucherenko informed the program envisages to ensure approval of a series of laws, in particular law on potable water and potable water supply systems, on centralized heating, on energy effectiveness of buildings, on peculiarities of handing into concession and lease of water supply enterprises, on creating of associations of co-owners of apartment houses etc.