Irkutsk Region is preparing for the heating season with a budget three times smaller than last year, but authorities hope to offset this with transparent fund allocation and a more rational approach. About 3.7 billion rubles will be needed for winter preparations, with the region relying not only on budget funding but also on new mechanisms to improve housing and utilities efficiency. These include a regional management company and an online trading platform, which should make spending more transparent and help get through winter without accidents.

Irkutsk Oblast will spend three times less this year on preparations for the heating season than it did in 2008. However, as the regional government believes, a transparent system for distributing funds and their rational use will make it possible to increase the return on budget investments and get through the winter without accidents.
About 3.7 billion rubles are needed for the next heating season in Irkutsk Oblast. Minister of Housing Policy, Energy, Transport and Communications Yevgeny Kanukhin said this on Monday at a government meeting. He explained that about 1.1 billion rubles of this amount will be spent by enterprises, and another 350 million is planned to be invested by municipalities. Thus, 2.2 billion rubles need to be obtained from the regional budget. However, it is impossible to find such an amount in the treasury in the current situation.
– This need was optimized, and we managed to arrive at 468 million rubles. And the government approved this amount. It should be noted that this also includes about 145 million rubles in accounts payable from 2008, which we must repay. Taking this into account, the actual funds for preparing for winter will be three times less than last year, but the money we receive must work 100%, – Yevgeny Kanukhin emphasized.
How effectively budget funds will “work” depends largely on the territories. As the minister noted, each district has its own approach to preparing for winter. For example, despite a small share of their own financing, the Bratsk, Shelekhov, and Ust-Kut districts manage to approach the distribution of money in a balanced and thoughtful way. Other territories, in particular the Taishet District, act on the principle of “ask for more, they’ll give you as much as you need.”
– There is exactly as much money as there is, and it will first be received by those municipalities where there is a comprehensive approach, – Acting Governor Sergei Sokol noted. – If the system for preparing for the heating season is clear and transparent, responsibility emerges both on the part of the regional government and the municipality.
However, funding from the regional budget is only one source for preparing for the heating season, Deputy Chairman of the Government Mikhail Kruchinin noted.
– Our work does not end with obtaining as much money as possible from the budget, – he emphasized. – If we address not only current problems but also strategic issues, then in a year we will see a completely different picture and at the same time reduce the burden on the budget.
One way to improve the efficiency of housing and communal services is seen by the authorities in the work of the regional management company. It has already been created on the basis of OJSC Oblzhilkommunkhoz and will work in the most problematic territories: providing services and attracting investment. As Nikolai Popov, General Director of Oblzhilkommunkhoz, said, the company will be able to work where it wins a tender, but many municipal heads have already supported the idea of its creation.
Another strategic project of the regional government is the creation of an online platform for conducting tenders in the housing and communal services sector. As Mikhail Kruchinin said, this idea is planned to be implemented on the basis of the same Oblzhilkommunkhoz.
– The platform will be created on the model of the ATsK-Goszakaz system. This will make it possible to increase the transparency of spending by utility enterprises, and will also contribute to the development of small businesses specializing in the production of components for housing and communal services or work in this area, – Mikhail Kruchinin explained.
According to him, within a month the online platform will enter test mode, and by the time tenders for the work begin, it will already be fully operational.