Donetsk, Feb 5 - DAN. Neglected public utility sector problems amidst Ukraine’s socio-economic difficulties caused a massive failure of Berdyansk’s water supply and sewage systems, Donetsk People’s Republic Construction and Public Utilities Minister Sergey Naumets said.
“The situation in Ukraine’s public utilities sector mirrors the Ukrainian authorities’ crisis. The service lines, rundown for decades, are now bursting at the seams,” Naumets said. “The sector requires urgent reforms, otherwise a similar crisis will hit all Ukrainian settlements in the near future.”
The water supply and sewage emergency in Ukraine’s Berdyansk “is a consequence of the Ukrainian authorities’ negligence towards their own people. The dynamic utility price hikes make the picture even more depressing,” the minister said.
A main sewer accident in Berdyansk in late January left more than half of residents (over 60,000) without water and stopped the operation of all education centres.*jk