The historical debts to the heat supplier of the housing sector should be frozen so as not to block the reorganization of the associations that manage the sector, said expert of the Institute for Development and Special Initiative “Viitorul” Victor Parlicov. According to him, over 2.5 billion lei in debts to the heat supplier have accumulated during 26 years and the housing sector accounts for 98% of these debts, IPN reports.
In a public debate, the expert said 80% of the associations that now manage the housing sector have an outdated legal form. Their reorganization into Associations of Condominium Co-owners is blocked as these are obliged to assume the historical debts of the buildings.
Alla Poltavchenco, manager of an Association of Privatized Dwelling Owners, said it should be clearly determined who accumulated these debts. When the dwellers are end-users, it is they who should pay these debts, not the associations of dwellers. According to Victor Cojocaru, head of a Homebuilding Cooperative, the socially deprived people do not have sufficient financial resources to pay for the consumed heat and this is a problem.
“Termoelectrica” commercial director Victor Puiu said the freezing of debts is not a solution. These are real debts to the supplier and they should be cleared. “Everyone tries to invoke rights, but nobody wants to admit that they have contractual obligations. We have contracts that specify the end-users and the invoicing procedures,” he stated.
Nicolae Glingean, development director at “Termoelectrica”, underlined the opportunity of installing the horizontal heat distribution system that allows to individually manage consumption and to separately meter the consumed heat for each apartment. The apartment buildings with such a system save over 30% of heat.
According to officials of the General Public Amenities Division of Chisinau, the Associations of Condominium Co-owners are now the most appropriate form of managing the housing sector in the municipality. The switchover to this form of management can yet last as the human factor is involved and there are contradictions in the legislation and the regulations. Recently, an employers association also recommended registering Associations of Condominium Co-owners that will enable dwellers to decide how to manage the yards of blocks and to avoid situations when authorizations for erecting new buildings in the yards are issued.
