The sand spit that protects Namyv in Mykolaiv from flooding is eroding

The sand spit at Namyv in Mykolaiv in 2021. Screenshot from a video on Facebook

In Mykolaiv, the area of the protective spit, which acts as a hydraulic structure and protects the Namyv neighbourhood from flooding, is shrinking.

The issue of its condition was raised during a staff meeting at the city council, according to NikVesti.

Serhii Puchkov, head of the «Chaika» cooperative, drew attention to the problem.

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According to him, the spit was originally created as an alternative to concrete bank reinforcement. It was intended to protect Namyv from erosion whilst maintaining residents’ access to the coast.

«A little further north is the Spaska spit. The river crashes against this Spaska spit, then against Namyv. To prevent this from happening, we could have built everything up with concrete. But that doesn’t protect against erosion. And secondly, it leaves our residents without a place to relax,» he explained.

Therefore, according to Serhii Puchkov, the decision was made to create the spit as a natural protective barrier. At present, however, the structure is gradually being eroded by currents, wind and human activity.

«Today, it is shrinking significantly. Its condition is affected by the wind, the current and the people who drive there,» he noted.

The chairman of the cooperative called on the city authorities to engage specialist experts to assess the situation and review the technical documentation drawn up during the construction of the spit, in order to determine the next steps for its preservation.

Mayor Oleksandr Sienkevych agreed that the first step is to review the existing documentation and investigate the situation. He tasked his deputy, Yurii Andriienko, and the city’s chief architect, Yevhen Poliakov, with addressing this issue.

«In any case, this cannot be done right now with the budgets of Mykolaiv and the region, as no funds have been allocated for this. But at the very least, this issue needs to be raised; if the spit is being eroded — this is not a one-day process — but in any case, we need to address this issue,» noted the mayor.

It should be recalled that a road sign prohibiting motor vehicle traffic was to be installed at the entrance to the sand spit in the Namyv neighbourhood of Mykolaiv.

It was also reported that Mykolaiv City Council published a project to reinforce the coastline in the Namyv neighbourhood, developed in 2020, on a digital investment search platform. The project’s estimated budget is 40.1 million hryvnias.

Reinforcement of the Namyv shoreline

In November 2020, Mykolaiv Mayor Oleksandr Sienkevych promised that work to reinforce the coastline would begin in 2021.

Journalists documented the damage to the Namyv neighbourhood’s shoreline in June 2018. At that time, the water had eroded several metres of the beach, and the foundations of multi-storey buildings were beginning to subside.

That same year, residents of Namyv began to sound the alarm that the water was washing away the shoreline. A meeting was held at Mykolaiv City Hall to discuss the possible implementation of a project to reinforce the shoreline, improve the beach area and ensure the sanitary condition of the territory.

In addition, in 2016, the Department of Housing and Communal Services announced a tender for the development of a Namyv coastal protection project worth 416,000 hryvnias. To this end, plans were made to build a promenade. At the time, the tender was won by the company «DBK-Proekt», with whom a contract was signed and who developed the coastal protection project.

In October 2019, it emerged that the Capital Construction Department of Mykolaiv City Council would spend 1,472,340 hryvnias on developing a project to reinforce the Namyv shoreline. Later, the head of the Capital Construction Department, Hryhorii Patoka, explained that the need to develop a second project was linked to changes in certain construction regulations.

However, as of October 2024, the coastline of the Namyv neighbourhood in Mykolaiv continues to erode. The width of the beach area is decreasing due to erosion. In August, NikVesti contacted the district administration to find out what stage the search for funding was at and whether the condition of the coastline had deteriorated in the meantime. He said that although funds for coastal reinforcement had not yet been secured, recent meetings between Mayor Oleksandr Sienkevych and donors gave hope that reinforcement work would be carried out in the near future.