The expenses of Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug to relocate and fix dangerous new buildings of the FZhS reached nearly a billion. The legal case is caught up in examinations.

Builders are refusing to reconstruct collapsing houses. YaNAO’s expenses for deteriorating new buildings increase by hundreds of millions of rubles every year. So far, only one building in Novy Urengoy has been demolished, but the authorities have already had to relocate at least 5 high-rise buildings, which were built by order of the Okrug Housing Construction Fund to resettle emergency barracks.

In some cases, the builders disappeared several years before the municipalities had to raise money for resettlement. In some projects, builders continue to work in the county, but they refuse to repair life-threatening homes. So far, developers have chosen a strategy to delay lawsuits as much as possible in order to compensate for losses to the budget and repair houses. The ICR attempted to identify the responsible officials, thanks to whom the defective new buildings received permits, but so far the process has not progressed beyond the examinations. The criminal case was launched without defendants, although there are specific responsible individuals who signed the documents. One of them was the current head of Novy Urengoy, Andrey Voronov, who issued permission to enter. Now the mayor of the city denies any involvement in these cases, claiming he “signed documents based on the conclusions of the State Construction Supervision Authority, which fully complied with the law.”

The MKU “Management of Municipal Economy” (UMH) of Novy Urengoy announced a competition for the reconstruction of a residential building on Tundrovaya Street. The apartment building, put into operation in 2016, will be repaired for 354 million rubles.

In addition to general construction work, which must address cracks in the walls, the contractor will also have to update the heating system and carry out plumbing work. Furthermore, the company will have to perform landscaping, despite the fact that the work was already completed by the developer 6 years ago.

It's important to note that the currently bankrupt company Stroysistema was responsible for building houses on Tundrovaya Street and Krainaya Street under a contract with the YNAO Housing Construction Fund (FZhS YNAO). In 2018, the examination recognized the first house as emergency, but subject to restoration, and the second was decided to be liquidated due to dangerous cracks. Only for the demolition of the building, the mayor’s office of Novy Urengoy paid 54 million rubles, and officials estimated the costs of resettlement at 328 million.

Yamal public activists have repeatedly raised the issue of holding officials and the management of the fund liable for accepting poorly built houses. In particular, the entry permit was signed by the current head of the administration of Novy Urengoy, Andrey Voronov, who now, according to an informed source of Pravda UrFO from the construction business of the YNAO, waives all responsibility for what happened, emphasizing that “the documents were issued on the basis of the conclusion of the Gosstroynadzor of the YNAO.”

In 2021, the Investigative Committee of the ICR for the YNAO announced that they are investigating a criminal case related to the negligence of officials. This negligence caused a lot of damage to the budget of the YNAO. However, the process did not go beyond a besfigurant criminal case. The press service of the regional investigative committee failed to quickly explain at what stage the investigation is currently at. However, the representative of the committee emphasized that “in the framework of this case, a large number of complex examinations had to be carried out.”

It is important to mention that officials in Novy Urengoy plan to stretch the repair of an apartment building on Tundrovaya Street for a year and a half. It was not possible to clarify exactly how the mayor’s office of Novy Urengoy plans to dispose of the sixty restored apartments. The head of the UMH, Elmar Gadzhiev, said that he had no information, and the press service of the city administration did not answer the questions of Pravda UrFO by the time the material was published.

Remember that a similar situation with the resettlement of relatively new houses built by order of the FZhS is currently developing in the city of Muravlenko. Three apartment buildings on Shkolnaya Street were declared emergency, but subject to restoration. Today, officials are trying to get builders to carry out major repairs to eliminate all construction defects that threaten people’s life and health. Subsequently, it was planned to provide apartments in these houses as office housing for out-of-town doctors, teachers and other specialists needed by the city.

Bulat Akmalov, head of the municipal property department of Muravlenko, told Pravda UrFO that both problematic houses on Shkolnaya Street were built by the Sever construction company. After accepting the object, the fund transferred all apartments in new buildings to the municipality. After the examination confirmed the need for the resettlement of people and the overhaul of buildings, families who received apartments under social rental agreements were provided with alternative living space. The apartment owners were paid money based on the market value.

“At that time, the warranty period for the house at 10 Shkolnaya Street had not yet expired. The construction company was obliged to develop project documentation for the overhaul of the house with the elimination of all identified shortcomings. Now they are in the process of examination,” said the representative of the mayor’s office Muravlenko.

For the second house on Shkolnaya Street, 6, the court with the “Sever” has been going on for the second year already, which refuses to perform work, since the warranty period has already expired, and “they consider anyone but themselves to be the culprits for the appearance of cracks in the walls.” In the appellate and cassation courts, the company tried to challenge the forensic examination appointed to determine the true causes of the destruction of the house.

After protracted disputes, the expert organization fulfilled the tasks set by the court, but the results did not satisfy the Sever, which demanded that these specialists be summoned to court. Consideration of the case has now been postponed until February 15.

As a result, all this time Muravlenko’s administration has been forced to pay for the heat supply of both empty apartment buildings at the budget expense. It was not possible to clarify how much the budget annually loses on utility bills for high-rise buildings, as well as how much money was spent on resettlement of houses. In total, we are talking about 67 apartments.

Previously, Muravlenko officials had previously had to resolve the issue of resettling and repairing a new building on Neftchinikov Street, 19. The state JSC Center for the Development of Investment Projects was responsible for the construction by order of the FZhS. The work was directly carried out by the Chechen company Gor-Stroy, which is associated with the ex-governor of Yamal Dmitry Kobylkin. Officials estimated the costs of buying apartments from owners and repairing the house at 159 million rubles.

The claim for reimbursement of joint and several liability by the contractor and subcontractor is currently under consideration by the Arbitration Court of the YNAO.