And we have gas in our apartment

11.08.2014 — Analysis

The blue flame has now arrived in villages in the Southern Urals.

Officials in the Chelyabinsk region have seriously applied themselves to providing gas to the countryside. Natural gas should not only improve the daily lives of village residents, but also finally pull them into the 21st century, where there is no need to spend money on a wood- or coal-burning stove for heat.

Those communities are getting gas as part of a 2020 Development Strategy for the district. As the interim governor, Boris Dubrovsky, emphasized, the aim of the Strategy is to improve the public's well-being and quality of life, which includes building gas pipelines as well as kindergartens and roads.

Not too many rural communities in the Chelyabinsk region currently have access to gas – only 8.7% (490 houses) in Kyshtym, for example, are thus equipped, and 18.6% in the Nagaybak precinct. The percentage is a bit higher in the Katav-Ivanovsk precinct - 36.4%. Nor is gas supplied at an adequate rate in the Kartalinsky precinct (64%).

In 2014, the district government at first allocated approximately 212.6 million rubles to pipe gas into the villages. Later, the head of the region, Boris Dubrovsky, ordered another 500 million rubles to be earmarked for this purpose. The money was found after the interim governor demanded that the expenditures from the district budget be brought under control.

Thus, the program to construct gas pipelines saw its 3.5 times financing increase in comparison with the previous year.

In 2013, 160.8 million rubles from the region's coffers were spent on these goals. Those funds built 131 kilometers of networks and provided connections for 9,700 apartments and homes.

In 2014, officials plan to run 350 kilometers of utility lines and power 12,000 apartments and homes.

The district governor's press office told RusBusinessNews that in addition to the funds from the budget, the program is also using money obtained directly from the local residents. Pipelines are being built first in those towns where the inhabitants chip in to pay for the paperwork for the design and cost estimates to install the networks and pipelines.

For instance, residents in the Kopeysk urban district raised funds back in 2008 to bring in gas lines. Since then, 294 families have been awaiting natural gas in the village of Severny Rudnik. This year the government has granted the municipality nine million rubles. One hundred thirty-four homes are scheduled to be the first to receive gas. Those lucky ones will see the blue flames in the next few months.

"People had begun to lose faith, and it's important that the initial phase now get rolling. People should not be afraid to invest their money into bringing in gas lines - their efforts are not in vain - gas is absolutely on its way. And this means that they'll soon see a whole new quality of life," noted the head of the Kopeysk municipal district, Vyacheslav Istomin.

Locals can expect to save a lot of money using gas heat. For example, Lyubov Sosnina spent a fortune on heat last winter - she had to cough up 26 thousand rubles.

"I was cooking on a gas stove, which runs off a canister, but I heated the house with wood and coal. One canister of gas lasts for about two months, except in the summer when we do our canning - then we only get a month and a half out of it at most. We're waiting for gas to be brought in. We've been waiting a really long time," shared Lyubov Sosnina.

It seems that the costs of the most essential things are the source of the greatest financial strain on retirees. What's more, it's not easy to lay in enough firewood to survive the winter.

"It's gotten hard to get things done around the house. I used to run around working, tidying up, lighting the stove. Granddad chopped wood. Our lives will get easier once we get gas - you wake up in the morning nice and warm and it's warm in the evenings too," shared Bella Mametyeva, a resident of the Nagaybak precinct.

That retiree does not have long to wait. Natural gas has been promised for the Nagaybak precinct by the start of cold weather. In the villages of Kuropatkinsky, Ostrolensky, Fershampenuaz, and Parizh, a total of 465 apartments will be hooked up. Forty million rubles have been allocated from the region's coffers to pipe in gas.

Although the locals have to pay to have the paperwork for the design and cost estimates drafted, they are confident that the money they have invested will soon pay off.

"All of us chipped in – 20 thousand per house. But that's small potatoes when you consider that with gas we'll only pay about 500 rubles a month for heat and hot water. All our expenditures will quickly pay for themselves," claims Evgeny Kuznetsov, a resident of Yuryuzan (the Katav-Ivanovsk precinct).

In the Katav-Ivanovsk precinct there are likewise plans to partially resolve this painful problem this year. District officials have sent 15 million rubles there.

In Yuryuzan, those living on Serebriakova, Zaitseva, Gagarina, and Zavodskoi Streets and Kostina Lane raised money a year ago to bring in gas and this year have drafted the necessary documentation. Those proactive consumers immediately allocated the money – 4.3 million rubles. That's enough to bring gas to 60 houses.

Another 10.3 million will be spent to build a five-kilometer pipeline in Katav-Ivanovsk. "This will bring gas to about 200 houses. And in the future it won't take such a large investment to hook up another 200 households," commented Evgeny Kirshin, the head of the Katav-Ivanovsk precinct.

The Kartalinsky precinct is expecting a real breakthrough this year overcoming the obstacles to gas. The regional budget has dispatched 12.5 million rubles there. That will pay to install 24.8 kilometers of utility lines and get natural gas into over 520 homes and apartments.

"This is a huge breakthrough. In four years we've never seen that kind of money spent to bring in gas lines. In our precinct 64% of the residents have access to gas. We'll raise that number by two percent this year, putting blue flames in another 550 houses. This is a real improvement in people's quality of life," noted Sergei Shulaev, the head of the Kartalinsky precinct.

The long-awaited natural gas will even arrive in the village of Kabanka (the Uvelsky precinct) by the end of the year. That municipality will receive 17.7 million rubles to be used for the construction of gas-distribution networks in that village of 100 houses.

For the first time in many years, Zlatoust has gotten money to bring in gas. The region has dispatched 18 million rubles there. The blue flame should also become available in the villages of Tsentralnye Ugolnye Pechi and Shevchenko.

Kyshtym will receive 21.4 million rubles from the region's coffers. Five high- and low-pressure gas pipelines, plus gas pressure regulating and metering stations, totaling 15.8 kilometers in length, will run through the municipality. The long-awaited gas will come to 355 private homes.

The program to bring in gas has been operating in the village of Podovinnoe (the Oktyabrsky precinct) since 2007. And another 1.68 million rubles were sent there in 2014. These funds will make it possible for 37 private homes to have gas installed. Then almost 100% of the community will have access to gas.

But it's not only the average householder in Podovinnoe who is pleased about the gas, but also the business community. The large agricultural complex that supplies vegetables and meat to the precinct and the Chelyabinsk region now has gas as well.

"The three gas dryers at Podovinnoe agricultural production cooperative make it possible for all the grain that is ground each day to dried and put into long-term storage. Boris Dubrovsky has visited our village and been to the facility, and he drew attention to the problems faced by agriculture and the problems of the district as a whole. And we are very grateful that when additional funds were allocated to provide gas throughout the region, the head of the district included our precinct as well," emphasized Mikhail Molchan, the director of the Oktyabrsky precinct.

Thanks to Boris Dubrovsky's directive, an additional 6.4 million rubles were allocated to the Oktyabyrsky municipal precinct this year. With this money they'll even run a gas line in the village of Oktyabrsky, which will provide power for 180 houses.

By the time cold weather sets in, the residents will be able to enjoy all the comforts of civilization. Right now the villagers are waiting impatiently. All that's left to do is burn their leftover wood and smash their old stoves.

Elena Plyukhina