«We did not find the funds»: have no time to lay a new heat network on Pohranychna before the heating season

Construction of a new heating network in Mykolaiv. Photo: NikVesti

In Mykolaiv, they will not have time to build a new heat network on Pogranichnaya Street before the beginning of the 2024-2025 heating season due to a lack of funds.

Yevhen Hladkov, the head of the housing and communal services department of the Mykolayiv RMA, told about this at the briefing , NikVesti writes.

Note that in February of this year, the management announced the construction of a new heating network along Pohranychna Street in Mykolaiv, which became one of the most problematic areas during the last heating season. Later, in March, a tender was announced for the construction of a network worth over 500 million hryvnias from Korabeliv Street to Marshal Vasylevskyi Street. However, funds for its construction have not yet been found.

«The heating network on Pohranychna Street is the main artery of Mykolaiv CHP. There are plans to change it almost from BSMP to, relatively speaking, a zoo, a large length, a large amount of money. I will say frankly that they have not been found yet,» said Yevhen Hladkov.

Yevhen Hladkov, head of the housing and communal services department of the Mykolaiv RMA. Photo: NikVesti

According to him, today this issue is being discussed with donors. However, even if funds can be found in the near future, it will not be possible to build the network before the heating season.

«Negotiations are underway with international donors, let's hope that a solution will be found soon. I may say unpopular things, but it is very problematic to completely replace it before the next heating season,» said Yevhen Hladkov.

He said that the utility company «Mykolaivoblenergo» has developed project documentation for this project, so work will begin as soon as they find funding.

«Both enterprises are working on this issue (Mykolaiv TPP and Mykolaivvoblteploenergo, — note). The task of designing the heat network was undertaken by «Mykolaivoblteploenergo», they performed this work, received an expert opinion, and prepared for possible financing. Even if we attract this financial resource, there are intentions to lay it in parallel (to the existing network, note), we will continue to build it as soon as we manage to attract a financial resource,» said the head of the department.

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Instead, the Mykolaiv CHP today carries out point-by-point repairs of the most problematic sections of the heating network. Yevhen Hladkov noted that as of June 18, Mykolaiv is 30% ready for the upcoming heating season.

«The state of preparation for winter is 30% in line with plans and tasks. The most problematic areas are being repaired from the material reserve available at the Mykolaiv Thermal Power Plant. The first stage of hydraulic tests has been carried out, defects have been detected,» the management said.

Heating season 2023-2024 in Mykolaiv

The 2023-24 heating season in Mykolaiv began on November 14, but Mykolaiv CHP was able to provide heat to residents only at the beginning of December due to numerous accidents on heating networks. The mayor of Mykolaiv, Oleksandr Sienkevych, believes that the problems with starting heat will only get worse in the coming years.

After the disruption of the heating season and statements by Mykolaiv RMA about the need for personnel decisions, the CHP began an official investigation to find the culprits.

As of the evening of November 18, 2023, Mykolaiv CHP connected only half of the total number of its consumers in Mykolaiv to heat. At the same time, in September, the CHP reported that it was 92% ready for the start of the heating season.

As of the evening of November 20 , dozens of apartment buildings remained without heating in Mykolaiv. In several districts of the city, repair works of heating networks continued. Then the first deputy of Mykolaiv city mayor Vitalii Lukov announced that they plan to connect all residential buildings of Mykolaiv to heat in a few days.

However, on the evening of November 21, there were still more than 400 apartment buildings in the city without heating. The Mykolaiv thermal power plant said that delays in the supply of heat to multi-apartment buildings occurred due to large gusts on the main pipelines of the heating lines.

On November 30, the CHP reported that due to emergency works in three more areas of the city, residents will be left without heating again for some time. However, the company immediately announced the good news — according to forecasters, the weather conditions in Mykolaiv are expected to improve.

Numerous gusts of CHP networks are connected, in particular, with the fact that last heating season the enterprise used salty water from the estuary, which accelerates the corrosion of already outdated pipes. In contrast to this, purified water from wells was poured into «Mykolaivvoblteploenergo», which NikVesti wrote in the article «Winter is near: What will the heating season be like in Mykolaiv?». Thus, the start of both heating seasons began without disruptions and significant accidents in the houses served by the municipal district heat and power company.

At the same time, Mykolaiv thermal power station reported that during the 2023/2024 heating season, water was poured from the estuary only in emergency cases. Thus, the company's networks were filled with salt water by 8%, while last year the systems were filled with estuarine water by 91%.

The 2023-2024 heating season officially ended on March 28.