Translated material
"Wrong and wrong"
The Prime Minister asked the Minister to be responsible for housing and communal services reform
It looks like there will be changes in housing and communal services reform. True, it is definitely impossible to answer the question of what shifts today. Either the Minister of Regional Development in charge of this area, Vladimir Yakovlev, will be dismissed, or several urgent laws will be adopted that develop the Housing Code in a liberal, anti-monopoly manner. It is quite difficult to understand what the members of the government wanted, who yesterday at their meeting with great enthusiasm tore to smithereens the plan for further reform of housing and communal services proposed by the Ministry of Regional Development.Prime Minister Mikhail Fradkov probably had the right to set the tone for the meeting, saying that ten years of housing and communal services reform is “enough time to ask in full.” The head of the Ministry of Regional Development obviously underestimated the harsh message and, in the traditional government manner, described what is bad in the housing and communal services sector and what is being done to make it better. So, the share of unprofitable municipal enterprises is 50%, the debt of citizens is 70 billion rubles, “in essence, there are no housing owners, because there is no developed competitive environment,” only by 2010 will the management of the housing stock completely switch to a competitive basis, and today HOAs make up only 6% and so on.
At the same time, Mr. Yakovlev tried to present several specific legislative initiatives that would help in the near future to get away from the monopoly in the housing and communal services market. They mainly concern the management of the housing stock and are made in favor of new forms, such as HOAs. It is proposed: not to levy a 24 percent income tax on funds spent by residents on major repairs; leave for the HOA the money received from renting basements and advertising on houses. In addition, adopt administrative regulations that will essentially establish an application form for registering land plots for residential buildings (municipalities will be required to make a decision within 30 days and register land ownership no later than six months). The Ministry of Regional Development has provided rather strict regulations for holding competitions for the selection of management companies; it contains serious anti-monopoly restrictions, for example: lots should not exceed 100 thousand square meters. m - thus, municipalities will not be able to hand over entire districts to the management of the DEZ. It also provides for the liquidation of DEZs, REOs and other post-Soviet institutions that could not find clients on the market.
However, the 37 points of the plan of the Ministry of Regional Development as presented by Mr. Yakovlev were not clear to everyone. Only the head of the Federal Antimonopoly Service, Igor Artemyev, stood up for his colleague, saying that the plan had everything: “Both disconnection from the monopolies - from the remote control zones, and selection on a competitive basis.” “I hear specifics from you, but not from Vladimir Anatolyevich,” the prime minister began. “How are the words written here?! Well, they are of a philosophical nature,” he noted, waving a piece of paper. - This is the next boo-boo-boo, or we guarantee that the minister will reach every municipality. We sometimes sweat at work, but more often we talk. Tell me, what is the specific solution? I’ll take it right away.”
The ministers, who are terribly far from managing multi-apartment residential buildings and live mainly in Rublevka and Arkhangelskoye, supported the prime minister as best they could. Minister of Justice Vladimir Ustinov inquired about the debtors, found out that 20% of them - not poor people - do not pay literally for Freudian reasons, and asked how they were supposed to fight. “Basically, the problem of this accumulated debt can be solved through local amnesty,” responded Mr. Yakovlev. “I think this is a mistake. Amnesty is a bad signal for those who pay,” said the head of the Ministry of Natural Resources, Yuri Trutnev. But he didn't offer anything else. And Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin said that the domestic housing and communal services reform is going completely wrong and in the wrong direction, and assessed Mr. Yakovlev’s report as weak. He said that the share of payments for housing and communal services in the budget of families in Eastern European countries is 15-21%, while in our country it is only 9.5%. And he posed the question bluntly: “Completely remove restrictions on housing and communal services tariffs.”
But the country’s chief economist, German Gref, immediately spoke out against it: “Stop undressing the consumer! It’s time to stop feeding our municipalities and fat monopolies.”...
The prime minister cut short all, as he put it, “macroeconomic disputes leading astray.” “Locally they feel responsible and expect regulations from the center, but here they don’t know which ones. It’s some kind of trap,” he complained. “I propose to recognize the ministry’s work on reforming housing and communal services as unsatisfactory. Develop a comprehensive plan within a month,” concluded Mr. Fradkov. “To a large extent, this is yours, Vladimir Anatolyevich,” he turned to Mr. Yakovlev, “and personal responsibility. I speak bluntly, directly and not for the first time.” “I cannot agree with the wording,” said the minister, not very accommodating. “It's your right. I insist,” the prime minister was angry.
After the meeting, Mr. Yakovlev tried to appear optimistic and said: “I would not believe that today’s conversation is about resignation.” He, of course, is well aware that Mr. Fradkov is “not a supporter of tough measures.” And anyway, what’s the point of changing when you don’t know whether the other one will be better.