05.03.09

The regular summer pipe maintenance will deprive Muscovites of hot water for 14 days this year, instead of the usual 21, according to an announcement made by Mayor Yuri Luzhkov at the city administration meeting.

He pointed out that the "technical abilities of the city utility services" will allow for this decrease.

The mayor publically addressed his first deputy, Petr Birukov, head of the Municipal Facilities Complex, demanding that the summer maintenance period be shortened by summer of 2009. Mr. Birukov replied that it is possible in 90% of city structures.

Earlier Birukov also announced, that in few years, hot water cut-offs will be shortened to 3-4 days. This will be made possible by replacing existing plumbing with modern pipes.

Birukov mentioned that in Yuzhnoye Butovo (South Butovo, a newer region of Moscow) hot water is turned off once a year for one day. This is because it is not necessary to turn off the water to check the condition of the modern pipes there.

As a reminder, OAO Moscow United Energy Company is planning in the near future to replace the old metal pipes of Moscow's heating network with new pipes manufactured from "modern advanced materials." These innovative technologies will allow minimizing operating and maintenance costs, and to extend the lifetime of the pipelines up to 40-50 years, compared to 7-10 years for existing pipes of the technologies currently in place.

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