18:00, 4 March 2009

Gas supply to capital of South Ossetia cut by 80 percent

The capital of South Ossetia, the city of Tskhinvali, was by 80 percent disconnected from gas supply, as Alan Gabaraev, Director of the "Energy" Association, has reported.

Earlier, he had complained of the drop of gas pressure in the pipeline, by which Russian gas is supplied from Georgia to South Ossetia, down to 0.5 atmospheres.

According to Mr Gabaraev, "because of extremely low pressure of half-atmosphere, the majority of city districts were disconnected from gas supply." It touched on the whole of the left-bank district and the areas in the north of the city. Thus, many social objects - the Republic's Hospital and the maternity home - are now without gas, as the ITAR-TASS reports.

The website of the State Committee for Information and Press of South Ossetia has reported earlier that gas is received only by 30 percent of Tskhinvali. According to South-Ossetian authorities, after restart of supply of gas to the republic by Georgia on January 25, the pressure in the gas main was normal until February 8; then it dropped from six atmospheres down to one.