The Bashtanka Water Utility has announced a tender for the reconstruction of the solar power station for the third time, with a value of ₴13.9 million: auditors had previously identified breaches

Bashtanka’s «Miskvodokanal» has announced a tender for the reconstruction of the solar power station for the third time. Illustrative photo: Suspilne

The municipal enterprise «Miskvodokanal» of the Bashtanka City Council is seeking a contractor for the reconstruction of the solar power station for the third time. The works are expected to cost 13.9 million hryvnias.

This is according to data from the Prozorro public procurement system, as reported by NikVesti.

The new tender was announced on 28 October. The contractor is to refurbish the existing 129.8 kW solar power station and install a 150 kW hybrid station with batteries having a capacity of 264 kWh. The equipment is intended to provide a backup power supply for the water utility.

This is already the third procurement for this project.

In January 2026, the company signed a contract with TOP Fire LLC worth 14.74 million hryvnias, but in March the parties agreed to terminate it.

In June, the water utility re-launched the tender with an estimated value of 16.69 million hryvnias. Five companies took part. TOP Fire LLC was once again declared the winner, having offered to carry out the work for 16.61 million hryvnias. The bids from the four other participants, which were cheaper, were rejected.

This procurement attracted the attention of the State Audit Service. On 27 July, the auditors began an audit, and on 13 August they published a report in which they identified irregularities in the rejection of the bid submitted by Voltenerji LLC.

In particular, the water utility pointed to shortcomings in the company’s documentation regarding the availability of equipment, experience in carrying out similar works and confirmation of local production. However, the contracting authority did not give the bidder the opportunity to rectify these discrepancies. The State Audit Service concluded that the rejection of the bid was unfounded and therefore ordered the company to cancel the tender.

The water utility disagreed with the auditors’ assessment. The company explained that the absence of documents regarding localisation of production was grounds for rejecting the bid without allowing time for rectification. Despite this, on 17 August, the water utility decided to cancel the procurement, citing the auditors’ conclusion.

However, as early as 19 August, TOP Fire Ltd, which had previously been declared the winner, lodged a complaint with the Antimonopoly Committee of Ukraine. The company considered the cancellation of the procurement to be unlawful.

On 28 August, the Antimonopoly Committee ordered the water utility to revoke its decision to cancel the tender. The company complied with this requirement on 4 September.

Furthermore, following the audit, the auditors drew up a report on an administrative offence due to the unjustified rejection of a tender bid. For such a violation, the official faces a fine of between 25,500 and 51,000 hryvnias. Legal proceedings were initiated on 28 September.

It should be recalled that in August 2026, the Executive Committee of the Bashtanka City Council approved compensation to the water utility for the difference in tariffs for June, amounting to 779,200 hryvnias. At the same time, members of the executive committee drew attention to the sharp increase in the amount of compensation and instructed that water consumption figures be checked further.

NikVesti had previously reported on the allocation of 5.5 million euros from Denmark for the restoration of water supply and wastewater treatment systems in Bashtanka. The project involves modernising the infrastructure and reducing water losses.