Year of work. How does the Zoria communal pool work after repair?

The renovated communal pool of the Zoria sports complex has been operating in Mykolaiv for more than a year. It accepts both pupils of sports children's schools and townspeople. Anyone can buy a season ticket for visiting the pool. However, the renovation of the swimming pool is only the first part of the reconstruction of the sports complex, because the renovation of the gyms is still ahead.

NikVesti visited the Zoria sports complex and found out how the renovated swimming pool works today and how long we have to wait for the complete restoration of the sports complex.

The pool began its work in May 2023

The renovated pool was already opened during the full-scale war, in May 2023, by the mayor Oleksandr Sienkevych. About 32 million hryvnias were spent on the repair of the swimming pool, changing rooms and technical facilities, of which 25 million were from the state budget, 7 million from the budget of Mykolaiv.

But in general, the reconstruction of the Zoria sports complex takes place in two stages. The first stage included the repair of the pool bowl, changing rooms and other technical facilities that ensure the operation of the pool. And the second phase involves the repair of the gym, locker rooms, insulation of the building and other works.

«Transformation of this Soviet-era facility into a modern sports complex. Changing the entrance group, installing an elevator and providing all the necessary measures so that people with disabilities can use this sports facility,» Oleksandr Sienkevych told about the work that is still planned to be done.

New equipment was purchased for the operation of the pool, which ensures water purification, the mayor said during the opening.

«The latest equipment is used here, a system that monitors the level of Ph and chlorine in the water. Actually, the whole building remained old with renovations, but all the equipment related to the pool was redesigned, a new tank was built under the pool, which deals with additional water purification, and a new frame for the pool itself was strengthened and capitalized. Everything is done in order to use the pool in full,» said Oleksandr Sienkovych.

However, the pool is currently not accessible for people with disabilities, as it is quite problematic to get to it. This will become possible after the completion of the second stage of the reconstruction of the sports complex, assured Volodymyr Kosse, head of the communal institution «Central City Stadium», which includes the Zoria sports complex. It provides for the construction of an elevator and the creation of the appropriate infrastructure, so that a person can independently and unobstructedly enter the building of the sports complex, as well as move around it.

The pool earns about ₴3.6 million per year

Anyone can visit the pool today by purchasing a season ticket. Its cost varies, depending on the time of visit: for adults from 1,300 hryvnias to 2,100 hryvnias and for children from 850 hryvnias to 1,500 hryvnias. However, Mykolaiv residents do not visit the pool very actively in the summer, assured Volodymyr Kosse, head of the communal institution «Central City Stadium». The pool is also visited by pupils of five sports city and regional schools, he added.

«Today we have a minimum of people. We conduct analytics, and there are really very few of them in the summer. One good thing is that the pool is working, because it was opened in wartime. At first there were a lot of applicants, but now there are a little less, but we are still working,» said Volodymyr Kosse.

In a conversation with the NikVesti correspondent, Volodymyr Kosse refused to name the amount that the Zoria pool earns thanks to visitors per year.

«Let's not talk about money. Look, today we need a positive that the swimming pool opened during the war. That, roughly speaking, the city government is doing everything for the people today, and they even flew here four times. There was a flight right into the roof of the pool. The rocket flew in and got stuck,» said Volodymyr Kosse.

To the journalist's clarification, the information about the swimming pool's earnings cannot be closed, since the Zoria sports complex, on the basis of which the swimming pool operates, is the municipal property of the city, and the swimming pool was renovated at the expense of the city budget, which currently allows to make a profit from the sale to Mykolaiv residents season tickets

«Well, if it (information about the pool's earnings, — note) is open, then take it where it is open. Look: where it is open, take it where it is open,» Volodymyr Kosse repeated several times.

It should be noted that the Zoria sports complex does not exist as a separate legal entity. The sports complex is part of the communal institution «Central City Stadium», the director of which is Volodymyr Kosse. During the full-scale war, the institution did not submit financial reports to the fiscal authorities, according to data from the YouControl analytical system. At the same time, the communal institution has the right not to submit such reporting during the period of martial law, but is obliged to do so within three months after its end. But non-submission of reporting may indicate «the presence of motives for concealing information about the company's financial activities» and be the basis for conducting an appropriate inspection, according to the data of the analytical system.

However, earlier in a comment to our publication, Volodymyr Kosse said that the pool's monthly income is 300,000 hryvnias. According to approximate calculations, the annual income of the pool can reach 3.6 million hryvnias. However, this amount may be less or more, depending on the number of visitors to the pool per month.

Part of these funds are spent on pool maintenance and additional payment for consumed electricity, said the head of the Zoria sports complex, Vitalii Volkov.

«To date, chlorine and the entire economic part are purchased with the money earned. Another tile flew off — we will repair it. Therefore, we spend all of this special account (the account where funds from the sale of season tickets are credited, — note) for the maintenance of the pool. We also pay extra for electricity, because we don't always have enough (funds allocated by the city budget, — note) due to the fact that newer equipment has been installed that draws a lot of kilowatts. The cleaning of the pool is done by our employees, they receive a salary for this from the city budget — we do not hire any companies for this. We do it all ourselves,» said Vitalii Volkov.

Volodymyr Kosse could not answer the question of the annual cost of maintaining the swimming pool, saying only: «We live almost from month to month.»

«It's still hard to say, because, for example, if the capacity of the pool is large, then, accordingly, the consumption of chlorine is large,» Vitalii Volkov specified.

When will the second stage of the sports complex renovation begin?

The second stage of works on the reconstruction of the Zoria sports complex involves the repair of the gym and cardio hall. Oleksii Savchuk, the director of the capital construction department of the city council, promised to repair them by the end of 2024. For this purpose, in April 2024, a corresponding tender for 6.7 million hryvnias was even announced.

«First of all, I want to say that we want to renovate more than just gyms. First of all, it is planned to adapt them for training and sports rehabilitation. That is, in these designed gyms, conditions are provided for modern types of rehabilitation activities for war victims. Halls will be adapted for people with reduced mobility. Implementation is planned this year,» he said then.

However, the renovation of these sports halls never started. Currently, it is necessary to make adjustments to the already developed project, as the management of the communal institution «Central City Stadium» requested to include in the project the arrangement of shelters for 300 people, Oleksii Savchuk said. Currently, there is a shelter for 150 people on the territory of the sports complex.

«There the entire project is viewed as a whole. Only the arrangement of the shelter cannot be considered separately. Because it is necessary to review all the existing norms that exist. Maybe something has changed, maybe something needs to be added, just at this moment in order to understand that later this project can undergo an examination. You can't separate the shelter itself and say, we're just adding shelter and that's it,» explained Oleksii Savchuk.

Due to the repair of the shelter, the cost of the second stage of the reconstruction of the sports complex will increase, but how much this amount will increase is still unknown, says Oleksii Savchuk. This will become clear after adjusting the project. When the works will start and when they will be completed, the capital construction department was also unable to provide an answer, as it is currently unknown whether there will be funds for this in the budget of Mykolaiv next year.

«It is very difficult to say without understanding what will happen to the budget for the next year and without understanding what amount of funds will be needed to complete this facility,» added Oleksii Savchuk.

Today, the renovated swimming pool in the Zoria sports complex has been welcoming visitors for more than a year. The issue of its accessibility for people with disabilities is still relevant, but the management promises that this issue will be resolved after the completion of the second stage of the reconstruction of the sports complex. However, this process was somewhat delayed, because they decided to add shelter repair to the project and now it needs adjustment. And whether there will be funds for this in the city budget next year is not yet clear. It will be possible to answer these questions only after the adjustment of the project shows the actual cost of the works.

Yuliia Boichenko, NikVesti

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