DUSHANBE, October 9, 2008, Asia-Plus — Two apartment buildings affected by last year’s natural-gas blasts have been restored, Shavkat Saidov, a spokesman for the Dushanbe mayor, told Asia-Plus today.
According to him, 376,949 somoni have been spent for restoration of the nine-story apartment building in Dushanbe’s Zarafshon area.
We will recall that a gas explosion flattened part of an apartment building in the Zarafshon area on November 8, 2007, killing two people. Seven people were injured in the blast which shattered windows and ruined part of the nine-storey building. Four apartments were destroyed completely
483,736 somoni have been allocated for restoration of the four-story apartment building on the Nemat Qaraboyev Street that was seriously damaged by the gas blast on December 7, 2007, the spokesman said. Fortunately, no casualties were reported.
Saidov noted that holders of the gas-blast-affected apartments had received compensations for properties destroyed by the explosions.
According to officers from the Tajik firefighting service, the most likely cause of gas blasts is violation of gas safety rules. It is to be noted that accidents involving gas happen often across in the former Soviet republics, which are still struggling to upgrade ageing infrastructure and raise safety standards.
