Penza, 22 February 2016. PenzaNews. Georgy Kamnev, first secretary of the Regional Committee of the Communist Party, deputy of the Legislative Assembly of the Penza region, explained why members of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation see the current system of billing for capital repairs in apartment buildings is unfair.

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“Firstly, by placing our money into the so-called ‘common pool,’ we are in fact loaning our money to a certain organization called the Regional Capital Repairs Fund for a very long term (for 25 years in certain cases). How will this structure use our money?” the deputy asked on his Facebook page.

He also pointed out that the exchange rate of the national currency is changing.

“What if the money lose their price, like it happened several times in the recent past (recall 1991, 1998, 2015)? Why and how will be deciding what to repair in the houses, and who will organize quality inspection of the works? For example, right now, the funds gathered for capital repairs in Penza are now used for widespread elevator replacement. Naturally, nobody asks the citizens if they need a new elevator or, let’s say, it would be better to repair the pipelines or renovate the entrance hall. Can there be corruption involved here? There are more questions than answers,” noted the leader of Penza Communists.

Apartment buildings have differing wear factors, Georgy Kamnev added.

“There are justified concerns that the Khruschev-era prefab buildings erected in the 60s as temporary housing are simply not going to last to 2040. Ideally, they must rehouse the citizens and demolish the buildings, instead of collecting money for their repairs scheduled 20 years into the future,” the deputy of the regional parliament shared his opinion.

According to him, the current capital repairs billing system does not allow the citizens to determine the volume and priority of repairs, or exert any kind of control over the spending.

“In practice, the capital repairs levy is similar to a tax in many aspects, rather than a fee for a concrete service. These arguments, along with others, were included in the joing appeal to the Office of the Prosecutor General of the Russian Federation by the State Duma deputies of the CPRF and AJR [‘A Just Russia’] factions. The prosecutor’s office agreed with the arguments by deputies Alexander Ageev and Vadim Solovyev (CPRF faction) and stated that the capital repairs levy are partially anticonstitutional. The hearing of the case in the Constitutional Court will take place on March 3,” Georgy Kamnev wrote.

This example shows how the CPRF “can achieve actual results for the sake of the majority of our citizens” even while being in opposition, he stressed.

“In order to consolidate on this first success, the Party needs support of the people, and the more significant this support becomes, the stronger our joint victories will be. Everyone can take part in this struggle and join our initiatives. In the nearest future, we are beginning a big campaign for nationalization of key industries, including communal services, public transportation and the energy sector. You can help the CPRF by helping us gather signatures, prepare public campaigns, spread the word of this campaign,” explained the leader of Penza Communists.