BELGOROD. May 14 (Interfax) - Block-sections adjacent to the one that collapsed in the middle of an apartment building during last week's bombardment of Belgorod will be dismantled, Belgorod region governor Vyacheslav Gladkov told reporters on Tuesday.
"Starting tomorrow, we will begin removing of debris, removing the two sections, totally 89 apartments. [...] It has been decided to reconstruct [the property] in this place. A final decision will be in place after we have fully dismantled the house and analyzed the foundation. I hope this will allow us to start building the house as quickly as possible," Gladkov said.
The reconstruction work requires approximately 350 million rubles, he said.
The authorities will try their best to give personal belongings back to the owners of the dismantled apartments, he said.
The authorities have promised that the people who have lost their apartments will have their housing rent payments covered by the regional government or will be given shelter in a temporary accommodation center.
"To those residents who have been temporarily deprived of residential premises we will be offering a format that is available. If they have no chance [to stay] with relatives, please rent apartments by concluding contracts, and we pay for them through social protection. If there is no such opportunity and no desire to sign [a rent contract], we will be accommodating [people] in temporary accommodation centers," the governor said.
Those who lost their property will be paid compensations, he said.
"Those who lost all of their property, we will draw acts on them [with a compensation of] 100,000 [rubles] per person, and 50,000 for those who lost part of their property. If we see that their income does not allow to restore their property, and additional assistance is needed after the apartments have been built, we will judge, as we always do, by the income of every owner, and if necessary, we will provide assistance individually. We can do this," he said.
It will not be until Friday that residents will be allowed to return to their apartments in the other sections of the building that remain intact, he said, as there is no hot water supply in the building due to the heating pipe main being damaged. The authorities are planning to restore water supply in the meantime.
As reported previously, a section of an apartment building in Belgorod collapsed during a Ukrainian attack on May 12. First responders recovered the bodies of 17 victims from the rubble, including two children. Seventeen people were rescued.
Three first responders were injured when some structures collapsed at the scene during rescue efforts.
Residents of the collapsed building have been evacuated. Some of them are staying in a temporary accommodation center, others have moved to their relatives' homes.
Gladkov ordered the housing and communal services minister of the Belgorod region to make sure that further payments for communal services at the damaged residential building are stopped to be charged.
A criminal case on the suspicion of terror attack has been opened following the collapse of the apartment building section in the city of Belgorod, the Russian Investigative Committee said.