City authorities plan to provide dorms with hot water

The Municipality will make an appeal to the Ministry of Education & Youth and to the rectors of the higher education institutions in Chisinau to connect the halls of residence to the centralised hot water system. Chisinau Mayor Dorin Chirtoaca stated at today’s City Hall meeting that the city authorities cannot decide unilaterally on this matter as the dormitories are administrated by the higher education institutions, which are not subordinated to the municipality. The mayor expressed his hope that the central and local authorities would eventually come to an agreement and resolve the issue. The director of Chisinau’s main heat supplier Termocom, Mihai Arusoi, explained that the dormitories are not provided with hot water because the universities do not have available resources for it. Whereas earlier hot water was provided to the residence halls on regular schedules, mainly on weekend, dormitories are now completely lacking hot water. According to existing sanitary norms – nearly 3 cubic metres of hot water per person – hot water provision would cost the managers of the dorms some 55 lei (about $5) per person each month, Arusoi explained. If the municipality reaches and agreement with the rectors, it will benefit Termocom to increase the volume of hot water delivered because it will maintain the rates at the current levels, despite the recent energy price hikes, Arusoi said.