In some Uzhgorod buildings, elevators serve on their fourth service term

Year after year, we have to return to old problems. Elevators have also been the issue of many discussions. Moreover, after prolonged verbal battles, two years ago in Uzhgorod they even adopted a program of modernization, overhaul and replacement of elevators for 2012-2014.

But the problem, as they say, must have been addressed yesterday, for the lifetime of many high-rise elevators in Uzhgorod has long expired. In the 16-storey building on B.Khmelnytsky square, for example, the elevator is completing its fourth term. In some buildings on Mynaiska street, elevators have not been working for four years. The repair is not going to help – they need to be replaced.

According to Serhiy Soroka, the director of the public utility "Uzhgorodlift", last year they thoroughly repaired 67 lift systems, but after such works lift service continues for a mere four years. That is, already in 2015 they will have to conduct another examination and repair works for the same elevators as the last year. It’s true what they say – the greedy one pays twice.

Meanwhile, the said utility now services 300 elevators. In Uzhgorod there are also four so-called "card" elevators that have been operating in the city for over a year.

The fact that the situation with elevators in Transcarpathia is difficult is also confirmed by the head of the SE "Zakarpatsky ETC" Victor Pylyp. According to him, 314 lifts in our cities have exceeded their service term. Overall, in the region there are 450 of them: 325 – in Uzhgorod, 121 – in Mukachevo and 4 in the village of Solotvyno in Tyachiv district. As V.Pylyp assures, only under preliminary calculations, the program developed by Uzhgorod City Council requires more than 3 million hryvnias. But where do they get that money?

While they are searching for an answer to this difficult question, overall 12 percent of lift systems in our region are out of use. And although in other regions of Ukraine, this percentage is much higher, but the number of lifts there is several times greater.

Novyny Zakarpattya