Nurzhan to replace heating mains after winter failures

NURZHAN — Nurzhan city council voted yesterday to begin replacing the city's district-heating mains, starting this summer with the oldest pipes serving the mikrorayon housing estates, after a winter of breakdowns that left many flats without heat for days at a time.

Pipes laid in the 1960s and 1970s failed repeatedly in the winter of 2012, sending steam through the snow of courtyards and leaving residents of several estates to sleep in their coats. Repair crews worked through the frosts, and some schools in the estates closed for several days. Heating in Nurzhan runs largely on gas, but residents say the problem is the network, not the fuel.

The vote follows petitions organized by councillor Elena Petrova, a former crane operator at the Kobozev Tractor Combine who has represented the city's industrial workers on the council since 1997. "Our pensioners spent the winter in coats while the pipes under their windows leaked into the snow," she said after the vote. "Patching is finished. Now we replace."

The city administration said the work would be carried out in stages over several years and paid for mainly from the city budget, and that it would seek a contribution from the governorate. Officials did not give a total cost.