The area around the «Molodizhnyi» Community Centre has turned into a rubbish dump

The area around the Molodizhnyi cultural centre in Mykolaiv is in a state of neglect and has effectively been turned into an unauthorised rubbish dump.

This is reported by a correspondent for NikVesti.

Along the building’s façade and on the adjacent plot lie piles of dry twigs, tree cuttings and shrubbery that no one is removing — they form dense heaps that have effectively turned into an unauthorised rubbish dump. All this came to light after the construction hoarding, which had been erected there over five years ago when renovation work was planned, was removed from the area around the cultural centre. The hoarding has now been moved to another site in Mykolaiv where repair work is underway.

NikVesti spoke with the management of the House of Culture and the district administration, who said that the area would be tidied up in the near future.

The cultural centre explained that they had been unable to clear the site earlier due to a lack of access for machinery. Staff at the cultural centre say that for many years the area was used by a contractor, who had fenced it off. The fence was recently removed, and now a lot of rubbish has accumulated on the open area near the cultural centre.

While the area was fenced off, cleaning machinery could not access it. Now this is possible. However, it is unclear why the fence was not dismantled earlier, as construction work has not been carried out here for a long time.

«There was a large fence near the Palace of Culture because renovation work was taking place here. We subsequently asked the contractor to remove it, as we needed access to the building. He dismantled the large fence and erected a smaller one to enclose the unfinished building. Naturally, a lot of rubbish was left behind. There are also temporary construction structures. They are due to be removed today. We have already spoken to the city authorities, as we cannot manage the clean-up of such a large site on our own,» said Yuliia Zakharova, director of the Molodizhnyi Palace of Culture.

Hanna Remennikova, Head of the Inhulskyi District, explained in a comment to NikVesti that the city did not have access to this site as it was being used by a contractor, so they could not carry out work there. Furthermore, she said, this area has the status of a green zone and is the responsibility of the municipal enterprise ‘Mykolaiv Parks’.

«Everyone is preparing, everyone knows about it, and the management is also aware. Unfortunately, at present our powers are insufficient to carry out this work independently: we have neither the funding nor the relevant reports. At the same time, we have the information and are keeping the situation under control. This area is currently under the jurisdiction of the ‘Parks’ municipal enterprise. They are the ones who will be clearing it up. Nothing terrible is happening there. Yes, it doesn’t look very nice,» says Hanna Remennikova.

According to her, the contractor has until 31 March to remove their belongings — the trailer and the shed. She says that the municipal enterprise Parks has promised to start clearing the area in early April, though they noted that they currently have a limited number of staff: they are clearing the city centre first, and then other districts.

«I spoke to the contractor today. He said he hasn’t been paid for this, or for some other sites, so there’s an outstanding debt for this site. He has the right to remove his property. As for the branches there, he didn’t confirm that they were his, but I think they’ve been left there since the site was prepared for the foundations — the trees were probably cut down then. Although, in my view, there are more branches than trees there. There are no trees there. What was actually there and why it wasn’t removed remains unknown. As far as I understand, more than six or seven years have passed, and now no one wants to determine who is responsible for this,» Hanna Remennikova.

At the same time, she does not know why this area remained closed off by the contractor for so many years and was not cleared. A lot of time has passed, yet the reasons for this remain unknown.

«It’s certainly not my concern; I don’t understand why he did that. As far as I know, the contractor now has the right to remove his fence and property, as he no longer has any obligations to the city. The fact that he erected at least a small fence at his own expense reflects positively on him to some extent. He is a major contractor who regularly takes part in tenders and projects. We are keen for businesses to operate, as the city needs tax revenue. I don’t know why the site was kept closed for so long, but they acted in a humane manner,» says Hanna Remenikova.

The head of the Inhulskyi District later added that the Capital Construction Department was the client for the works at this site, and therefore they are also responsible for the sanitary condition of the site.

Reconstruction of the Molodizhnyi Palace of Culture

The project to renovate the cultural centre was launched in 2012. In 2013, the project failed to gain approval from the environmental commission, as it involved the felling of around 120 trees.

Later, the Mykolaiv City Palace of Culture Molodizhnyi having failed twice to hold a tender for the reconstruction of its building, signed a contract with Hryhorii Sterpul’s company Zhitloproombud-8 in December 2019 on its third attempt. At the time, the cost of the works was estimated at almost 360 million hryvnias.

The company was due to complete the work by the end of 2020 for 90 million hryvnias.

Mayor Oleksandr Sienkevych stated that there were no funds in Mykolaiv’s budget for the renovation of the Molodizhnyi Palace of Culture and that he was counting on the repairs being funded from the state budget. The head of the Mykolaiv Regional State Administration, Vitalii Kim, also said that the renovation of the Palace of Culture should be carried out using state budget funds.

In 2021, Yurii Liubarov, Head of the Culture Department of the Mykolaiv City Council, announced that the city authorities were expecting to receive funding from the State Fund for Regional Development to continue and complete the ongoing reconstruction work on the Molodizhnyi Cultural Centre in 2022.

In 2023, the court confirmed the existence of a conspiracy during the procurement of works for the reconstruction of the Molodizhnyi Palace of Culture in Mykolaiv and brought the case to a close, imposing a fine of 6.6 million hryvnias for corrupt activities during the tender process.

It was noted that the construction company Zhitloproombud-8 had appealed to the Antimonopoly Committee requesting that the decision of 26 December 2019 be declared invalid, pursuant to which the company had been held liable for distorting the results of the tender for the procurement of works to reconstruct the City Palace of Culture in Mykolaiv.

In 2020, the progress of the reconstruction of the Molodizhnyi Palace of Culture was estimated at 7%; since then, virtually no work has been carried out.