The housing and communal sector is a key industry for ensuring Ukraine’s population living. Nearly a quarter of capital assets are engaged in it. But this sphere is in the doldrums. Dilapidation of communal infrastructure is over 60%, one third of water supply and drain network and almost 18% of heat network are in accident condition, nearly one quarter of lifts have already depleted their operation life.

Not for the first year an issue of urgent reforming communal and housing sector remains on the agenda. Every new government promises to change it for the better, lambasting the predecessors’ inactivity. However, there are not so many actual reforms in the industry.

Primarily, it concerns the Tymoshenko government which defined reforms in the housing and communal sector as its priority firstly in the BUYT pre-election campaign and then in the program of actions of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine “Ukrainian breakthrough: for people rather than for politicians”.

More than 3 months have passed since the government began its work, but we do not see any appreciable step within this sphere. A draft of the national program of reforming and developing housing and communal services for 2008-2012 is still worked up by a relevant ministry although similar document for 2008-2012 has been already approved by the V. Yanukovych government. If the previous government planned to appropriate UAH 32 billion within 4 years, the current one – UAH 4 billion, whereas only for renewal of fixed assets in the housing and communal sector up to UAH 100 billion should be raised.

Besides, the V. Yanukovych government was the first to carry out actual reforms in the housing and communal sector of Ukraine. Precisely this government initiated and elaborated the National program of reforming and developing the housing and communal services for 2004-2010 which was approved by the relevant law.

The V. Yanukovych government in its second cadence had to overcome consequences of venturesome revision of Ukrainian and Russian agreements on gas supply to Ukraine entailing a steep increase in prices for the housing and communal services.

Even after establishing a higher price for gas supply in January 2006, tariffs were not changed until the end of the first quarter pending the elections to Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine. Only in late March tariffs on electric power were raised and on gas – in a month. Price for gas for population increased 4 times. To curb a rise in tariffs the V.Yanukovych government instituted obligatory concurrence of calculating costs of communal services with the State Price Inspection, which was also empowered to control pricing in the housing and communal sector.

At the same time recovery of expenses of the population was introduced, primarily of low-income citizens against a rise in tariffs. Subsidies for compensating costs of the housing and communal services were established. If in 2005 1.4 million households received subsidies, in 2007 there were over 2.1 of them.

By the V.Yanukovych’s proposal Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine passed the Law of Ukraine as of 20.12.2006 No. 498-V “On restructuring debts for provided services on upholding houses, buildings and nearby areas and for communal services that have accumulated as of December 1, 2006”, which enabled to relax the situation with payments in the housing and communal sector.

In 2007 over UAH 4 billion was stipulated in the State budget for financing this sphere. First and foremost, it was directed at technical refitting of the industry, replacement and modernization of the obsolete equipment as well as for other purposes which prerequisite embodiment of energy-efficient and resource-saving technologies.

The V. Yanukovych government proposed even larger expenses on reforming the housing and communal sector in the 2008 budget. It suggested allocating UAH 4.3 billion for these purposes, particularly for development and reconstruction of centralised water supply and drain networks, modernization of heat network in houses, modernization of lifts of housing property, reconstruction of districts of obsolete housing, etc.

The draft of the 2008 State budget of Ukraine elaborated by the V. Yanukovych government maintained the positive experience of previous years of granting subventions to local budgets for social and economic development, for measures on preventing accidents and avoiding anthropogenic catastrophes within the housing and communal sector and other communal property objects conducive to accident at the total amount of UAH 2.2 billion.

Unfortunately, most of these important for the industry undertakings in the 2008 State budget were rejected by the Yu. Tymoshenko government. Spending on the housing and communal sector was reduced by UAH 700 million, financing was cut by UAH 1.3 billion. The Tymoshenko government’s policy plunges the industry of housing and communal services further into a deadlock.

Meantime, Yu. Tymoshenko more than once stated about her desire to improve the state of affairs in such problematic and needed for all people sphere. Unfortunately, it seems that the turn of real work has not come yet. Certainly, it is easier to promise than to execute. But people are looking forward to improvement of their life conditions for the time being.