We work for the benefit of Muscovites!

The Day of Housing and Communal Services Workers, which is celebrated in Russia annually on the third Sunday of March, is dedicated to numerous events that can be visited at the Dream Island and the Museum of Urban Economy of Moscow at VDNKh.

Around the clock, without a break for weekends or holidays, up to half a million specialists provide the vital activity of the metropolis. These are road workers and janitors, engineers and technicians, energy and gas workers, roofers and industrial climbers, designers, environmentalists, rescuers, firefighters and many others. In total, there are more than 100 areas of work, including sanitary maintenance and cleaning of urban areas, the provision of housing and communal services, the comprehensive improvement of public spaces, the maintenance and repair of road and bridge structures, landscaping and festive decoration of the city. In addition, specialists are engaged in the overhaul of residential buildings, healthcare and education facilities, landscaping, maintenance of shelters for homeless animals. Thanks to the employees of the housing and communal services, a program for the separate accumulation of waste is being implemented, the Unified System of State Environmental Monitoring is being developed, and fire safety is being ensured. Control over the state of reservoirs, first aid in case of various accidents, maintenance of utilities at large and local construction sites, road repairs and daily cleaning – the range of tasks for the army of thousands of metropolitan public utilities is huge.

Until March 19, Dream Island is hosting the Moscow City Economy Week. Residents of the capital will learn how the city economy is organized and functions, what elements it consists of, what technologies and equipment it has and why it is so important. Also, everyone will be able to personally get acquainted with specialists who work every day to ensure that the houses are warm, light and cozy, and the streets and public spaces of the city remain comfortable and safe.

Every day of the City Economy Week is dedicated to various areas of work of city services and specialists – power engineers who supply the capital with electricity, heat, water and gas, public utilities who take care of roads, bridges, streets and yards, environmentalists and rescuers. The main event of the week is an exhibition of specialized municipal equipment, which opened in front of the main entrance to the Dream Island. Visitors can see models of urban technology that provide the life of the metropolis around the clock.

The exposition presents more than 100 units of modern technology. Among them are road sweepers such as solid/liquid dispenser combination machines, vacuum sweeper, mechanical sweeper, guardrail cleaner, rotary machine, road grader, wheel loaders, sewer cleaner, excavators. -loaders, snow loader, communal cleaning robot, lawn mower. Citizens will also see road construction equipment: a concrete mixer truck, a horizontal drilling machine, bulldozers, excavators and an asphalt paver.

Modern Moscow is built up very densely, so mini-equipment is needed that can drive into a small courtyard or walk along a park path without damaging the lawn. Public utilities are in great demand for a compact multifunctional machine that adapts to seasonal weather changes: it can become a tractor with a bucket, it can clean the sidewalk if the brushes are strengthened. Maneuverability and the possibility of transformation are the main features of urban technology, there is not only a mini-tractor, but also micro-excavators, street vacuum cleaners, ice-filling machines, snow groomers for creating ski tracks, snowmobiles and much more, vacuum sweepers, small front-end loaders, electric communal robot and self-propelled lawn mower. Modernized metropolitan services and large equipment: rollers, pavers and bulldozers. The latter, by the way, were equipped with strong armor and sent to the front line in the Lugansk People’s Republic, to help our soldiers at the front: dig trenches and trenches. And for local residents, Moscow equipment is also a symbol of the fact that the restoration of the now Russian territories will go quickly.

City services are ready to help in any situation – rescuers will help on land, in water and in the air. Rescue equipment is represented by helicopters, ladder trucks, tank trucks, self-propelled cranes, snow and swamp vehicles, mobile pump-hose systems and other vehicles, from huge swamp vehicles and hovercraft to mini-loaders and armored excavators.

Arrows raised to the spring sky greet visitors with various modifications of fire engines with ladders and lifts. The ability to raise firefighters and water to a height is always relevant, fires in high-rise buildings need to be localized as quickly as possible. Children are thrilled to be able to touch the different fire extinguishers and even deploy the fire hose. Nearby you can see rescue boats, among which is the latest development – “North-K”, capable of moving on land, ice, slush, swamp.

The exhibition featured two of the latest developments in municipal electrical engineering: innovative multifunctional electrical platforms of domestic design, made from domestic derivatives. Hard-E with a driver is used as a loader, snow blower, and “Pixel” is fully robotic. It is controlled by an operator who draws up a cleaning plan, and the equipment, following the plan and operating modes, will clean, water or clean the area. At the same time, inanimate objects – benches, benches, lanterns – the equipment goes around, and all living things, whether it be a dog, pigeons, a cyclist, skips. “Such a unit is suitable for cleaning courtyards, parks, enclosed street spaces,” said project manager Igor Ovsyuk, “for now we use it at the site in Bibirevo. Will soon reach Skolkovo. So far, five such robots have been made. But we think that it will be possible to launch mass production. Our device is able to respond to loud noise, fights, claps, etc., it can report this along with the coordinates of the incident, and so that they are not afraid of the sight of the car, together with the students of the Moscow Poly, we will develop a facial expression for the car: it will react to aggression, oncoming people, improve mood “. As conceived by the developers, the novelty will be able to partially replace manual labor, as well as improve safety.

Pyotr Biryukov, Deputy Mayor of Moscow for Housing and Communal Services and Improvement, said: “The exhibition will allow Muscovites to see all the technical means and solutions, novelties that are in the city economy, to touch what we do not notice in everyday life. After all, what is difficult – turn on the light or water? Meanwhile, more than 500,000 city workers provide a comfortable life for 15 million residents in the city. This year, on the eve of the Day of Housing and Public Utilities Workers, which is traditionally celebrated on the third Sunday of March, it was decided to hold the City Economy Week for the first time. As part of a large-scale event, we will tell Muscovites how the capital’s infrastructure works, show samples of municipal and rescue equipment that helps maintain safety and cleanliness in the city. The exposition presents modern equipment, in total – more than 100 units.

At the exhibition site, you can also see rare equipment: here is the old man PM-10 – the very first street washer of roads. It has been produced since the 1930s. And next to it is a RAF minibus, which was used in the 1970s as a fixed-route taxi.

From March 14 to March 19, the Moscow Municipal Economy Museum at VDNKh also hosts a week of housing and communal services. Guests are invited to sightseeing tours of the exposition. They will tell you how the city economy works, how the most important utility systems of the capital work, and how to properly sort garbage. In addition, guests are offered an interesting quest “City Life”, dedicated to the peculiarities of the work of employees of the Moscow municipal economy complex.

Mikhail Kovalyov.

Author’s photo