Municipal Construction

Municipal Construction 

the sector of construction that builds units that serve the inhabitants of cities, urban-type settlements, raion rural centers, and populated points in the rural areas. Such units include water supply and sewage systems with purification structures and networks; urban electrical transportation structures with line and power systems, depots, and repair enterprises; gas and heat supply networks with distribution points and regional and block boilers; electrical grids and installations with voltages lower than 35 kilowatts; hotels; city hydro-engineering structures; beautification projects for populated points; greenbelts and parks; roads, bridges, overpasses, and storm runoff systems; and sanitation and garbage-processing installations.

Planned development of municipal construction in the USSR began with the very first five-year plan and was carried on at an increasing pace until the start of the Great Patriotic War (1941–45). During the fourth five-year plan (1946–50), municipal facilities destroyed during the fascist German occupation were restored. In subsequent years municipal construction has been carried on at a high rate in connection with the swift development of industry and culture and the increase in the population of cities and urban-type settlements (see Table 1).

Table 1. Municipal construction in the USSR
		Growth
	To 1917	From 1928 to 1941	From 1951 to 1971
1 Cities only
Number of cities and urban-type settlements	6661	2,286	2,635
Population of cities and urban-type settlements (millions)	28.5	60.6	79.8
Water supply systems	217	1,203	3,045
Sewage systems	23	541	1,717
Gas supply systems	—	—	3,600
Underground utilities (km)	5,960	22,900	269,300
Streetcar systems	41	40	30
Trolleybus systems	—	8	103
Length of electrified urban transportation routes (km)	1,690	3,112	11,816
Hotels (number of rooms)	—	119,800	277,200

Capital investments for municipal construction in 1966–70, including the construction of subways, totaled 12.2 billion rubles; the plan for 1971–75 envisions a total of 14.45 billion rubles. The value of the fixed assets of municipal facilities in 1971 was more than 20 times greater than in 1917. The five-year plan for 1971–75 calls for the construction of water lines in 700 cities and worker communities, expansion of construction on the gas supply network, and accelerated construction and modernization of purification facilities for industrial and domestic waste water.

I. T. IVANOV