The Association of Cities of Ukraine (ACU) emphasizes the necessity of preserving municipal enterprises in the draft law "On the peculiarities of regulating entrepreneurial activity… during the transitional period" and points out that if the bill is adopted without this consideration, many cities may face a situation similar to that in Kryvyi Rih, Dnipropetrovsk region, where the city was left without heating.
"The need to maintain municipal enterprises in the draft Law of Ukraine No. 6013 was raised during a meeting of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on Economic Development by the Executive Director of the Association of Cities of Ukraine, Oleksandr Slobozhan. Contrary to the ACU's position, the Committee supported the bill in its second reading and overall. A striking example of the consequences of the proposed changes in bill No. 6013 is currently the Kryvorizh теплоцентраль, which disrupted the heating season in the city and left over a hundred thousand residents of the Kryvyi Rih community without heat in December," the message on the ACU website states.
The Association notes that the provisions of the bill impose a direct ban on the creation of municipal enterprises, which contradicts articles 142 and 143 of the Constitution of Ukraine, and involve the transfer of property of territorial communities, which is assigned to municipal enterprises, into the ownership of economic societies. At the same time, the ACU stresses that the heating crisis in Kryvyi Rih arose precisely because the city lost control over the heat supply provider.
"The Kryvorizh теплоцентраль, located in the city, is not subject to the city authorities at all. All boiler houses operate on the municipal heating network, which heats 2,510 houses," noted the head of the Kryvyi Rih military administration, Oleksandr Vilkul.
The need to revise bill No. 6013 was voiced by Ukrainian MPs Lyudmyla Buymister and Viktoriya Hryb. 11 committee members voted in favor of the bill and the liquidation of municipal enterprises.
As previously reported, on November 22, the Ministry of Community and Territorial Development announced that a critical heating situation had developed in Kryvyi Rih. There were 934 residential buildings in the city without heat, affecting 110,000 residents, along with 11 healthcare institutions, 43 educational establishments, and a territorial center for social protection.
Over 70 emergency teams are engaged in repair work, and assistance in emergency-repair operations is also being provided by specialists from Kyiv and the surrounding areas, as well as from Poltava, Kharkiv, Zhytomyr, Cherkasy, and Volyn regions.
On November 23, the Vice Prime Minister for the Restoration of Ukraine — Minister of Community and Territorial Development Oleksii Kuleba visited the city and announced plans to restore heating by December 8.