March 4, Minsk / Ekaterina Markovich - BELTA/. Tariffs for energy resources for the population in Belarus will be regulated by the government, and for utility services - by local authorities. This was announced to a BELTA correspondent by Anatoly Shagun, Deputy Minister of Housing and Communal Services of Belarus.
"Unified tariffs will be formed for energy resources, i.e., for heat, electricity, and gas. The government reserves the right to regulate them; most likely, these tariffs will be unified throughout the country. And the regulation of tariffs for utility services, which include maintenance, major repairs of residential buildings, water supply, sewerage, and elevator use, will be transferred to regional executive committees and the Minsk City Executive Committee. Local authorities will be able to form them taking into account the specifics of a particular territory," the Deputy Minister explained.
Thus, utility tariffs will differ geographically. "Today, this is the situation with the service for the collection and disposal of solid municipal waste. At the beginning of 2011, a decision was made to transfer the regulation of these tariffs to local authorities, so there is a slight difference in the cost of this service across the regions today," noted Anatoly Shagun.
The Deputy Minister of Housing and Communal Services emphasized that this mechanism will form the basis of the approach laid down in the new Program for the Development of Housing and Communal Services of Belarus until 2015, approved by the Resolution of the Council of Ministers No. 97 of February 8, 2013. This issue was also discussed on March 1 at a meeting of the Council of Ministers dedicated to the results of the country's socio-economic development for 2012 and the tasks for 2013, during which the head of state instructed to address the formation of the cost of housing and communal services in Belarus.-0-