The authorities are looking for those who will tackle the problem of replacing outdated elevators in apartment buildings

The responsibility of departments for solving the acute problem of replacing outdated elevators in apartment buildings and social facilities is now blurred, State Duma deputies insist. They approached the federal government with a proposal to identify a separate body that would be responsible for updating equipment and modernizing the housing and communal services sector as a whole. In their opinion, this should speed up the resolution of the issues that have accumulated in the industry. But everything depends on the financing of such a structure, experts warn.

Kommersant obtained a letter from the head of the State Duma Committee on Construction and Housing and Communal Services, Sergei Pakhomov, dated March 15, 2024, to Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin with a request to take measures that would solve “the problem of the low rate of replacement of outdated elevators and the modernization of the housing and communal services industry as a whole.” The deputy proposes to appoint one department responsible for the range of tasks in the industry, which, by the way, also needs to be defined. The Russian government office did not respond to Kommersant’s request.

Currently, responsibilities and powers in the housing and communal services industry are blurred between several federal departments, while there is no separate structure that could be centrally responsible for the management and operation of housing and communal services in the country, writes the author of the appeal. This, in his opinion, “significantly complicates both the work of providing the country’s citizens with high-quality public services and the preparation of a general program for modernizing the industry.” The appeal separately emphasizes the need to pay special attention to regulating the issues of modernization and replacement of the elevator fleet of the housing stock, since “the state has withdrawn from solving this problem.”

This problem has now reached its peak. There are now more than 600 thousand elevators in operation, the wear of which in a number of regions exceeds 50%, writes Sergei Pakhomov, citing data from the Ministry of Construction. According to him, by 2025 more than 140 thousand elevators must be replaced, which will cost 300 billion rubles. Speaker of the Federation Council Valentina Matvienko said on March 19, 2024, with reference to Deputy Prime Minister Marat Khusnullin, that the “road map” for modernizing elevators in the country will be ready by early May.

At the same time, the replacement of about 45 thousand out of 81.5 thousand elevators in apartment buildings throughout Russia, the service life of which will expire in February 2025, is not included in the overhaul plan and is not provided with financing, the Russian Elevator Association previously clarified ( RLO) (see “Kommersant” on January 24). According to the forecasts of RLO General Director Peter Kharlamov, in 2024, regional authorities will purchase only 20 thousand replacement elevators; in 2023, 18.9 thousand units of such equipment were purchased.

Previously, the commissioning of elevators was controlled by Rostechnadzor, without “whose visa not a single elevator in the country was put into operation,” recalls Oleg Malakhov, vice-president of the Association of Management Organizations “New Quality”. But starting from 2021, developers independently put elevators into operation, only notifying Rostekhnadzor about it, he explains. This, according to the president of the Association of Real Estate Service Companies, Nikita Chulochnikov, “led to partial disorganization in the maintenance of dangerous equipment, including lifting and transport mechanisms.”

The allocation of a separate direction in the Ministry of Construction would help the industry quickly deal with existing problems, says Leonid Chernonog, manager of the Serpukhov Elevator Construction Plant. The ministry has a separate department, but its activities are limited by a lack of funding, notes Pyotr Kharlamov. The Ministry of Construction did not respond to Kommersant’s request.

However, as the problem of replacing elevators is solved, faced with increased demand, manufacturers will not be able to quickly increase production volumes, fears Vladimir Koshelev, First Deputy Chairman of the State Duma Committee on Construction and Housing and Public Utilities. The enterprises themselves are sure of the opposite. The Shcherbinsky Elevator Plant (part of Dom.RF) says that the workload of elevator manufacturers is now 40–60%. Therefore, the company is confident that if more elevators are needed, manufacturers will be ready for this.

Daria Andrianova