Last Thursday the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine resolved to increase 2004 national budget revenues by UAH 4.502 billion (to UAH 65.204 billion) and expenditures by UAH 7.987 billion (to UAH 72.18 billion).
Item 109 of this resolution includes provisions of a bill proposed by People’s Deputy Anatoly Domansky, whereby the Naftohaz Ukrayiny national joint-stock company’s 100-million-worth debt is to be used for funding the housing program for retired army servicemen. The Day asked program manager Oleksandr SHYKALOV, head of the National Coordination Center for Adaptation of Retired Servicemen and Conversion of Military Facilities, to comment on this:
“A very important event happened today in Ukraine, as one of the most long-standing social problems has almost been resolved. The reform in the Armed Forces of Ukraine that followed the collapse of the USSR rendered about 30,000 military families homeless. As a result of efforts that have been made so far, the number of people on apartment waiting lists has dropped to 18,000. This number includes about 300 people aged between 70 and 80 who have never had accommodations of their own. Also on the waiting list are widows of officers who died without ever having their own apartment. The waiting lists include a total of 1,400 individuals over the age of 60. You can well imagine the joy of these people who have seen the light at the end of the tunnel and know that most of them will get an apartment this year. We are grateful to the government for supporting us and looking into the problem of funding this program. But what surprises us is the negative attitude of the “Our Ukraine” and the socialist factions, both of which were opposed to this, alleging that this money is flowing into commercial facilities. They even say that the National Coordination Center is also a commercial facility, but in actual fact it is an agency of central executive power, like a ministry, with a special status, that of owner of apartments being built for retired servicemen. In other words, retired servicemen or those who have been placed on reserve now see for themselves that these parties’ slogans of social justice are nothing but empty words. About 3,000 military families are going to be housed in their own apartments this year, including 1,000 families of retired officers, thanks to those 100 million hryvnias.”
