Pivdennoukrainsk must approve the agreement for a €5.2 million grant to reconstruct the sewerage infrastructure

Building of the Pivdenoukrainsk City Council. Photo: Alex Nick

The Pivdennoukrainsk City Council plans to approve a grant agreement signed back in the summer. The funds will be used to reconstruct two sewerage pumping stations and a pressure sewer.

The draft resolution provides for the approval of the grant agreement, which the city council and NEFCO signed on 18 August 2026. The funds are being provided under the Ukraine Green Recovery Programme, which is financed by the Danish government.

The total cost of the project is 5.8 million euros: 5.25 million (approximately 264 million hryvnias) is grant funding from Denmark via NEFCO.

The project aims to improve the reliability of the wastewater collection system, reduce the risk of untreated effluent being discharged, and cut electricity consumption and associated greenhouse gas emissions.

In addition to the grant, the Pivdennoukrainsk community must contribute at least 585,000 euros of its own funds towards the project.

Under the terms of the agreement, the grant funds will be used to procure the goods, works and services required to implement the project. Payments will be made directly to contractors following confirmation that the relevant stages of work have been completed and the relevant documents have been verified.

The grant must be paid out no later than 17 August 2029.

It should be recalled that on 3 July, councillors approved the acceptance of a grant from Denmark. The draft resolution proposed authorising the mayor to sign the grant agreement and other documents necessary to receive the grant funding.

Prior to this, Pivdennoukrainsk had been unable to sign the grant agreement during the Ukraine Recovery Conference 2026 in Gdańsk, Poland, as the city council had not held any sessions for almost half a year and had not managed to pass the necessary resolution.

City Council Secretary Denys Kravchenko, whilst the mayor, Valerii Onufriienko, was on sick leave, signed an order convening a session via videoconference for 16 June, even though the deadline for approving the NEFCO agreement was 15 June.

As a result, the city faced the risk of losing €5.2 million in grant funding. Following negotiations with representatives of NEFCO and the head of the Mykolaiv Regional Military Administration, Vitalii Kim, the international partner agreed to extend the deadline for the city council to make a decision.

NikVesti had previously reported that NEFCO had stated that once the city council had completed all the necessary legal procedures, the parties would be able to proceed directly to signing the grant agreement.