OREANDA-NEWS. January 29, 2013. The Sverdlovsk Oblast Ministry of Energy and Municipal Housing has drawn the line under the regional gasification program for 2012. According to the Ministry, as of today the region's gas supply network is about 54% complete.

The gas resource is now available in all of the region's cities and towns and in 69 out of 73 urban-type villages. Last year, total investments into the regional gas distribution system amounted to about RUB485 million, as the Sverdlovsk Government PR Service informs.
 
In rural areas, according to Sverdlovsk Oblast Minister of Energy and Municipal Housing Nikolay Smirnov, 500 kilometers of branch and distribution gas pipelines were commissioned through regional, federal and commercial financing. These efforts allowed connecting to the gas supply network ten rural communities. With this number added, the region's count of populated localities supplied with pipe gas is currently 256 or 16.3 per cent of their total number. Nikolay Smirnov also informed that in the reporting period nine thousand homes were connected to the gas supply network.

– Gasification is one of the main conditions not only for economic growth but also for social development of any region. This is why the most visible outcome of our gasification programs in recent years has been the steady growth in the number of our people who get access to natural gas. By the end of 2011, this resource had found its way to homes of 2.5 million people, in 2012 the number of gas consumers increased by more than 30 thousand people, – Nikolay Smirnov commented.

It should be noted that in 2012 the total amount of money spent for the Sverdlovsk Oblast gasification program was about RUB485 million including about RUB90 million from the regional budget (out of which RUB64 million under the regional specialized programs "The Urals Village" and "Integrated Program for Development and Modernization of Municipal Housing in Sverdlovsk Oblast" for 2012-2016, subprogram "Gasification Development", and RUB26 million from the Sverdlovsk Oblast Government reserve fund).

The region's gasification efforts also received support from the federal budget in the amount of RUB46.9 million (RUB36.2 million were spent under the program "Social Development of Rural Areas till 2013", and RUB12.7 million were allocated for the development of municipal infrastructure in Novouralsk urban community). Investment programs of gas distribution companies and the agreement entered into between the Sverdlovsk Oblast Government and ITERA Oil and Gas Company ensured financing of gasification projects from commercial sources in the amount of RUB305 million.