Architect Poliakov asked Sienkevych why he was spending money on prizes and competitions for projects for which there were no funds to implement them

Yevhen Poliakov, Chief Architect of Mykolaiv, photo by NikVesti

Mykolaiv’s Chief Architect, Yevhen Poliakov, has stated that the city budget is currently unable to spend tens of millions of hryvnias on urban improvement projects. At the same time, the Department of Architecture continues to hold architectural competitions and award prizes for design proposals that may be implemented in the future, subject to the availability of funding.

This was discussed on 23 September during a meeting of the Mykolaiv City Council’s executive committee, according to NikVesti.

The discussion was opened by the mayor, Oleksandr Sienkevych, who referred to a NikVesti article about the project to redevelop «Defenders of Law and Order» Square, which involves erecting a new monument to law enforcement officers to replace the one that was blown up in 2022. In the DREAM system, its estimated cost is 20.2 million hryvnias — around 1.1 million hryvnias for project preparation and a further 19.1 million for implementation. However, in the article itself, the editorial team noted that the inclusion of the project in DREAM does not mean that its implementation has begun, but merely that it may be eligible for funding in the future.

The design for the new memorial to law enforcement officers, which took first place. Photo: Department of Architecture

Oleksandr Sienkevych stated that the wording regarding the intention to spend 20 million hryvnias gives the impression that the city is already planning to allocate these funds to the memorial, even though Mykolaiv’s budget is in deficit.

«I sometimes read news from a parallel Mykolaiv. One website wrote: «In Mykolaiv, they want to spend 20 million hryvnias on a new monument to law enforcement officers to replace the one that was blown up.» Can you tell me who wants to spend it? Don’t you know? It’s simply that people who have no understanding of how the budgetary process works are already assuming that someone wants to spend it. People are already writing in the comments about how they want to launder money there. Is there any information to suggest that anyone there actually wants to spend anything? Given our budget situation, where we’re appealing to the central government for assistance with the local budget just to pay salaries and utility bills, someone wants to spend 20 million on a new monument,» said Oleksandr Sienkevych.

In response, Yevhen Poliakov confirmed that the city does not have the funds to carry out this project. According to him, the budget currently does not allow for the financing of even the development of up-to-date urban planning documentation, in particular the city’s master plan.

«I think the correct response here is that Mykolaiv has a budget deficit and, far from wanting to spend such money, simply has nowhere to get it from. For example, the main task of the Department of Architecture is to draw up town planning documentation. We do not have an up-to-date master plan, nor do we have the funds to draw one up. The budget cannot cover such expenditure. Moreover, it certainly cannot cover urban improvement projects running into tens of millions of hryvnias,» said Yevhen Poliakov.

He explained that the project to renovate the square emerged following an architectural competition. According to Polyakov, no contract was signed with the winner for further design work, and law enforcement agencies helped cover part of the organisational costs of the competition.

«We are carrying out architectural work. These were materials from the architectural competition. As far as I am aware, the winner is currently serving in the army; no contracts have been signed with him, and no funds have been spent on this. When we were running the competition, we were approached by law enforcement agencies, who also helped organise it with a view to saving Mykolaiv’s budget funds — they covered part of the costs,» he said.

How much did the architectural competitions cost Mykolaiv?

At the same time, the competition itself involved the payment of cash prizes. Under its terms, the first prize was 140,000 hryvnias, the second 105,000, the third 70,000 hryvnias, and a further 60,000 hryvnias were set aside as an additional incentive fund. In fact, it was decided to pay the winners and one of the participants a total of 357,000 hryvnias: 140,000, 105,000 and 70,000 for the top three places, plus a further 42,000 hryvnias as an incentive bonus.

That said, the competition for the redevelopment of the square is not the only one that the Department of Architecture has organised in recent years. The prize funds for just five competitions announced between 2023 and 2025 totalled around 1.2 million hryvnias:

• in 2023, a total of 225,000 hryvnias in prizes was allocated for two competitions for memorial complexes honouring Ukraine’s fallen defenders — 135,000 for a memorial at the Central City Cemetery and 90,000 for a memorial in the Korabelnyi district;
• in 2024, the prize fund for the competition to convert Maternity Hospital No. 3 into a perinatal centre amounted to 225,000 hryvnias — 100,000 for first place, 75,000 for second and 50,000 for third;
• in 2025, up to 375,000 hryvnias were earmarked for the competition to renovate the «Defenders of Law and Order» square, of which 315,000 were for the three main prizes, with a further 60,000 forming an additional incentive fund;
• a further 375,000 hryvnias made up the prize fund for the competition to restore and adapt the Officers’ Club complex, better known as the House of Fleet Officers (DOF).

The architectural competitions themselves do not mean that the winning designs will be implemented immediately. For example, the terms of the competition for the perinatal centre stipulated that the winner would merely be granted the right to proceed with the development of the project documentation. Earlier, Yevhen Poliakov also explained that architectural competitions are used as a way of finding the best solution for a project, the development of which may involve not only architects but also other specialists.

Regarding the appearance of the square project in DREAM, Yevhen Poliakov explained that the city is required to upload public investment projects that form part of the relevant plans to the platform.

«We have this DREAM system, where all projects are uploaded. It wasn’t created by the city; the task was to upload projects there, and we were asked how many projects there were in each area. All plans included in the socio-economic development plan and various financial plans must be uploaded to the system,» said Yevhen Poliakov.

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This explanation generally corresponds to the current public investment management system, although it does not literally refer to all the city’s ideas or plans. DREAM is used for the registration, technical verification and public display of public investment projects, as well as for their subsequent evaluation and monitoring. The preparation and formation of communities’ project portfolios are also carried out using this information system. In other words, the appearance of a project in DREAM indicates that the city regards it as a potential public investment project and is creating the possibility for its future implementation, but does not prove that the city has already decided to spend 20 million hryvnias on it.

Following Yevhen Poliakov’s response, the mayor once again criticised the way information about the project was presented, describing such headlines as a means of attracting readers’ attention.

«They’ll keep writing about this; they’ll want to write something because they need clickbait — they need people to visit the websites and read the news from time to time, so they have to grab their attention with headlines,» said the mayor.

At the same time, he instructed Yevhen Poliakov to analyse all the architectural competitions organised by the department separately and to hold a press conference. According to Oleksandr Sienkevych, the chief architect is to report on the results of the competitions, the department’s work and the city’s funding requirements for urban planning documentation, in particular the new master plan.

It should be noted that participants in the nationwide architectural competition for the best design proposal for the redevelopment of the «Defenders of Law and Order» square in Mykolaiv will receive cash prizes.

Back in 2019, the City Council’s Housing and Communal Services Department spent over 900,000 hryvnias on the major refurbishment of the «Defenders of Law and Order» square .

As is well known, on the evening of 19 October 2022, a monument on Sadova Street was blown up. This was a monument erected to mark the 60th anniversary of the Soviet police force and dedicated to police officers from the Mykolaiv region who died in combat during the Second World War, as well as those who died whilst on duty. The pedestal still stands in its original location.