Mayor of Chisinau Dorin Chirtoaca asked Termocom SA to finish connecting the city to the heating system within 48 hours and instructed the municipal services to step up the collection of payments for heat, especially from consumers in debt. Owing to the large debts of the consumers, the Apartments Division and Termocom SA cannot fulfill their obligations towards other suppliers. The debt to Gazprom totals 1.8 billion lei. Half of it had been collected between 2000 and 2009. Moldova could remain without natural gas in the height of winter, the mayor said, quoted by Info-Prim Neo. As many as 600 apartment buildings were connected to the heat supply on Sunday, November 1. There are 1,400 more buildings to be connected. All the apartment buildings will start to be supplied with heat by Tuesday, even if they are in debt. The mayor demanded that a list of the consumers in debt be presented at the next meeting of the municipal services and divisions on November 9. The heating charge in Chisinau for the 2009 – 2010 season will remain 540 lei per gigacalorie. The City Hall will ask the Chisinau Municipal Council to approve the further allocation of compensations for heat. The persons who did not benefit from such compensations, but have a monthly income lower than 1,450 lei must lodge the necessary documents to the relevant municipal division.