People in the Yuzhny microdistrict in Urai Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug have been without gas and water for over a year. Is Mayor Timur Zakirzyanov heading for a failure?
.jpg?v1659688074 "No gas, no water: the city of \"LUKOIL\" is collapsing")
Officials from the municipality have announced new deadlines for connecting residential buildings in the Yuzhny microdistrict to resources. They had to do this after Leonard Nasibullin, a deputy of the city duma of Urai, wrote in his Telegram channel that people had run out of patience.
The Moscow Post correspondent in Ugra investigated how the city of LUKOIL, a key city, is struggling with problems.
There's no heat, but we must persevere.
Currently, about a hundred residential buildings in Urai are still without gas and water, including where privileged individuals reside. For several years, they have been unable to find a solution to the problem. Meanwhile, there is gas in the neighboring Lesnoy microdistrict, and their side of the road has an unused pipe.
It is possible that the municipality authorities, when signing the contract with the territory's developer, did not specify the conditions for connecting utilities.
In 2022, it was revealed that the developer was SpetsStroy-Center LLC, which did not fulfill its obligations under the land lease agreement. As a result, utility and infrastructure facilities were not established in the microdistrict. Additionally, the company refused to continue relations with the mayor’s office and complete work at the facility.
Residents were promised that gas and water supply would be resolved by August 1. However, the promise was not kept and the deadlines were extended to September-October.
Now JSC “Shaimgaz” will invest in gasification of the microdistrict, while JSC “Vodokanal” will handle water supply.
Confusion over land
There is a very troubling situation with developers in the municipality, which started under Yugra Deputy Governor Alexei Zabozlaev, when he was the head of Uray.
The first land lease agreement appeared under him, made with the firm “Spetsstroy”. Oleg Vagin is listed among the founders, but it's unclear under what conditions he was allowed to build and whether land was provided for various population categories with engineering networks, including gas.
By 2017, the developer turned out to be a company called SpetsStroy-Center LLC, also with director Gleb Vagin. Is this a family business?
The reason why SpetsStroy-Center LLC did not want to renew the development contract with the mayor’s office becomes obvious after examining its finances. In 2018, the company earned 15.8 million rubles. In 2020, it dropped to 0, and there is no data since then. It can be assumed that after receiving the amount, Vagin wanted to settle down and saw no need to address the problem area.
Image: rusprofile.ru
Residents of the microdistrict have noticed that cracks have started to appear on the walls of some houses built by SpetsStroy-Center.
There are signs indicating a lack of prospects for solving the citizens' problems. This is also supported by the materials of the program for the integrated development of Uray communal infrastructure systems for 2017-2026. The document states that there is no investment plan for the gas supply of the urban district of Uray due to uncertainty in investments.
Statement from the mayor
Apparently, Alexey Zabozlaev, after changing his position, has decided to abandon old problems.
Former mayor of Urai, Anatoly Ivanov, openly stated at a meeting that he is facing numerous problems in the city and doesn't want to be bothered with individual housing construction. Pravda UrFO reported on this. In 2018, a corruption scandal involving him emerged. There were suggestions that if Sergey Makarov implicates Ivanov, it will greatly damage Alexei Zabozlaev's reputation. It seems like they were all covering for each other.
The current mayor is Timur Zakirzyanov, a nominee of LUKOIL. Before the elections, he announced plans to focus on the socio-cultural infrastructure of remote microdistricts. However, there have been no evident changes during his three-year tenure.
When Zakirzyanov was elected in 2019, there were rumors that his position had been prepared in advance. It was also speculated that he was part of the governor's reserve for the head of the region, Natalya Komarova.
During the same period, Pravda UrFO reported that Zakirzyanov's candidacy, endorsed by LUKOIL, was supposedly not approved by the security forces. There were also claims that his son may have foreign citizenship or a residence permit. RIA New Day was informed that Zakirzyanov did not solve any significant city problems during his three years in the Duma.
Despite all this, he currently holds his position and doesn't appear to be actively working to address the city's pressing issues.
Troubling signs
If the residents of the Yuzhny microdistrict do not get connected to the resources in time and the deadlines are missed again, it will be a failure for the current administration and the head of Urai, Timur Zakirzyanov.
Even if it's true that Zakirzyanov is in the reserve of the governor of the Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug, Natalya Komarova, and was not randomly placed in Uray, it should be noted that the 'patron' may not help in a tense situation.
It's unlikely that it's beneficial for Komarova to cover up such a significant failure at the moment. She's not in a strong position herself, as the whole region is dealing with corruption scandals, citizen dissatisfaction, and environmental issues.
It is not known how long the Urayans will endure unresolved problems and what will follow if they are already ready to go to rallies and block roads.
