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Audit Chamber: fourth of funds provided for housing program not used

MOSCOW, December 23. /ITAR-TASS/. A fourth part of the funds provided for the implementation of the federal housing program is not used, Audit Chamber head Tatyana Golikova told the State Council meeting on Monday.

The funds from the federal budget for the program are not used efficiently, Golikova believes. Funds left in budget accounts in regions by January 1, 2013 amounted to 13.4 billion rubles, or almost a fourth of the volume for the year, she noted.

It is linked with the poor organization of the preparation work in regions, she believes. There was no proper work to prepare urban development documentation and formalize ownership relations and plan budgets in regions for three years, she said.

It is early to talk about January 1, 2014, but no serious positive changes are expected, Golikova concluded.

The chief auditor also said about serious problems in the implementation of the program to move people from dilapidated housing.

The audit conducted by the chamber to analyze the implementation of the program in regions shows that there is no true information about real volumes of dilapidated housing and real condition of buildings, she noted.

Regions by October 1, 2013 reported about more than 9,500 dilapidated buildings, but it is less than 20 percent of the real number.

It is clear that regions lower the rates proceeding from the budget possibilities. With such an approach, it is problematical to implement the program within the set period until September 1, 2017, she noted.

The Audit Chamber believes it is necessary to immediately complete the estimating work in all the municipalities and start the elimination of dilapidated housing.

Russian President Vladimir Putin during the State Council meeting on Monday said the work to get rid of dilapidated housing was inadmissibly slow.

The president reminded that all residents were planned to move from such housing by September 1, 2017. But only a little more than 1,500 people out of planned 42,000 have moved to new housing. "It is just inadmissible," he said.

It is a very sensitive subject for citizens. It is an inadmissible situation when people live in old unfit buildings for decades, Putin noted. The president described the problem as the acutest, most painful and chronic for Russia.

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