Heating season will be opened later due to warm weather

The opening of the heating season was postponed this year owing to the high temperatures forecast for the next two weeks, officials of the Chisinau City Hall announced, saying there are no obstacles to connecting the consumers to the heat supply, Info-Prim Neo reports. At Monday’s meeting of the City Hall, deputy mayor Vald Cotet said that if the need arises, the apartment buildings will be connected to the heat supply without delay. According to him, 43% of the buildings signed technical certificates and received connection permits, which is the final phase of the preparations for the heating season. Dionisie Boaghie, the head of the Housing-Communal Division, said that Termocom SA insisted that the pipes be insulated and there was used ten times more insulating material than the previous years. The officials also said that some of the companies lag behind, but the nice weather will enable them to finish the works in time. For his part, Mayor of Chisinau Dorin Chirtoaca said that this subject should not become a bone of contention and serve as a reason for not opening the heating season. Earlier, Termocom SA released a press statement expressing its concern about the preparedness of the heating networks for the cold season. “Most of the blocks have not fixed the heating pipes so as they could sign technical certificates and be issued with the connection permit. The general situation is critical,” the communiqué said. Last week, the Chisinau administration transferred 50 million lei of its debt to the heat supplier and now owns 170 million lei more to it. Earlier, the City Hall proposed paying the debt in installments, but Termocom refused, saying that it also has debts to the thermoelectric plants CETs. The heating season in Chisinau is opened after the thermometers show average temperatures of 8 degrees Celsius and lower during three consecutive days.