‘The heating season is expected to start in Yekaterinburg on September 15, 2007. Heat will be gradually turned on during ten days; all the socially important buildings such as kindergartens, schools, maternity clinics, and hospitals will be the first to be supplied with heat,’ the spokesperson for Mayor of Yekaterinburg Konstantin Pudov said to UrBC.

‘On the whole, things look good, even though it’s true that we have a few problems with the dwellings that used to belong to the military department but have recently been handed over to the municipal authorities. The city, for one, was given control over some areas in the center of Yekaterinburg and in Pionerskiy district, yet most of the utilities there appear to be totally abandoned and leave a lot to be desired. Moreover, the military department never provided any financing needed to restore the engineering infrastructure when the buildings were handed over to the municipal government,’ Mr. Pudov said.