Sienkevych explained why it is necessary to fund the new master plan for Mykolaiv: «No plan, no investment»

Mayor Oleksandr Sienkevych stated that without the adoption of a new master plan and urban planning documentation, the city will be unable to allocate land plots or work on attracting investment. That is why, he said, funding must be allocated for the development of these documents.

He spoke about this in a comment to NikVesti.

As is known, Mykolaiv’s chief architect Yevhen Poliakov reported that the development of Mykolaiv’s new master plan could be completed by 2027 if over 31 million hryvnias are allocated from the budget. Currently, detailed plans have been drawn up for only about 7% of the city’s territory.

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«He (Yevhen Poliakov, — note) noted that around 30 million hryvnias are needed for implementation over two years. Some of this is required this year. This is important because our master plan was approved in 2009, meaning it is now 17 years old. It is usually updated every five years. Secondly, as the Mykolaiv Regional Prosecutor’s Office challenged the zoning in court, we revised it; they challenged it a second time, so now we cannot work with land on which there is no permanent development,» said Oleksandr Sienkevych.

According to him, without the adoption of a new master plan and the necessary urban planning documents, the city will be unable to allocate land plots and work on the implementation of future investment projects.

«We can talk a lot about investment. But without the adoption of a new master plan, new zoning and all the necessary urban planning documents, we will not be able to allocate these plots and work on future investment projects. That is why we need to tackle this now, during the war. He (Yevhen Poliakov, — note) gave a very good presentation; I watched the broadcast. And I think the councillors understood why this needs to be done. Not because it’s just another project for which there’s no money, but because it’s a necessity we need today to create a new master plan, develop new zoning based on it, and address the issue of land allocation and other matters that citizens are bringing to our attention. After all, without valid zoning, we cannot do this,» added Oleksandr Sienkevych.

Mayor Oleksandr Sienkevych, screenshot from the NikVesti YouTube channel

In response to a follow-up question from a journalist at NikVesti asking whether funds for the Master Plan could be allocated from the 2025 budget surplus, he replied that these funds should be divided into two parts: 300 million hryvnias are capital expenditure for public investment, and 317 million is the general fund surplus from last year. According to him, part of these 317 million may be allocated to launching the project and carrying out specific work on developing the Master Plan as early as this year.

We should add that the executive committee of the Mykolaiv City Council, in response to an information request from NikVesti, stated that the Mykolaiv budget currently does not allocate funds for the development of a new Master Plan for the city. This is despite the fact that funding for this work was planned for 2022–2025.

«In accordance with the Programme for the Economic and Social Development of Mykolaiv for 2024–2026, approved by Decision No. 27/9 of the Mykolaiv City Council dated 23 December 2023 (as amended), provision has been made for the development of the Mykolaiv City Master Plan and related works. As of now, no funds have been allocated in the city budget for this work. The deadlines for the completion and submission for approval of the Master Plan for the city and the associated documentation depend on the availability of funding,» the response states.

Response from the Executive Committee to an information request from NikVesti

Response from the Executive Committee to an information request from NikVesti

As a reminder, 16.1 million hryvnias are required for the work in 2026, and just over 15 million in 2027. It should be noted that no funds were allocated for work on the master plan last year. Furthermore, Yevhen Poliakov explained that the problem with its development is complicated by the state of war. Aerial photography of the Mykolaiv area was last carried out in 2017 — at that time, around 8 million hryvnias were spent on it. As of 2025, the method was unavailable.

The new master plan for Mykolaiv is intended to be completed by the end of 2027. Screenshot from Yevhen Polyakov’s presentation

Mykolaiv Master Plan

Plans to develop a new master plan for Mykolaiv were announced in October 2022. This document is intended to include a concept for post-war reconstruction, explained Mayor Oleksandr Sienkevych.

In April 2023, Mykolaiv’s then chief architect Andrii Tsymbal stated that the Italian company One Works was not actually involved in creating a new master plan for Mykolaiv, but was preparing a «development brief», which would be handled by the Kyiv-based state design institute «Dipromisto». At the same time, his then-deputy stated that Andrii Tsymbal had made an inaccurate statement regarding the role of the Italian architects from One Works in the process of developing and approving Mykolaiv’s new master plan.

As early as October 2023, a survey was announced among city residents. They were asked to answer questions regarding the infrastructure of their districts and their vision for the future development and appearance of Mykolaiv.

The architectural firm One Works and Norman Foster have joined the project to create Mykolaiv’s master plan. Meanwhile, specialists from Denmark are working on the part of the master plan relating to underground utilities.

Read also the article by NikVesti «A Chance for Recovery: Why Mykolaiv began work on a master plan in the midst of the war».

It is worth noting that in 2024, the city budget planned to allocate 4.5 million hryvnias to the development of Mykolaiv’s master plan. Later, the city council explained why this was necessary. The city planned to allocate funds for the production of up-to-date topographical materials and the adaptation of the Master Plan’s provisions to Ukrainian legislation. This work was scheduled to be completed in 2026.

In the summer of 2025, the mayor of Mykolaiv stated that the development of the new master plan for Mykolaiv would cost around 30 million hryvnias. The city authorities are in talks with international partners regarding the financing of this work.