Mayor Vadym Boichenko declared that bill 3508-d the deputies of the Verkhovna Rada must vote for, could stop the development of Ukrainian cities. The document should define a mechanism for writing off gas debts. Restructuring is proposed.
‘Today the debts of the whole country for gas is UAH 57 billion. But the communities were not the reason why they were collected. Why should cities return them from development budgets? There was a direct command from the President of Ukraine to write off debts based on the difference in tariffs. It is not being executed. Now the deputies propose to calculate the debt and not write it off. This is deceiving the population and sabotaging the President's instructions,’ the Mayor of the city said.
According to the bill 3508-d, it is proposed for enterprises to restructure the difference in tariffs in seven years (we are talking about the difference between the approved price for the population and the company's costs for a service). According to Vadym Boichenko, it is 1 billion UAH for Mariupol. If this amount is "transferred" to the shoulders of the community, the city will not be able to develop. There will be no money to repair schools, hospitals and roads.
‘The deputies submitted a lot of amendments that could help cities and enterprises, but, unfortunately, not all of them were taken into account. Now the communities simply do not have such a financial resource to pay the difference,’ Vadym Boichenko said.
The Mayor of Mariupol added that in connection with a 300% increase in the market price for gas, there is a danger of an increase in heat tariffs for the population by 70-80%. The city, together with the state, is looking for common options on how to prevent this.
‘It is necessary to protect the Ukrainians as much as possible from a possible increase in tariffs. The majority of the population will simply not be able to pay utility bills. Our task as a local authority is to develop an action plan that will not let such events happen, ‘ Vadym Boichenko stressed.