International partners refused to finance the water supply for Mykolaiv under the «quick plan»: it will be financed from the state reserve

Mykolaiv City Mayor Oleksandr Sienkevych. Archive photo NikVesti

International partners refused to finance the construction of a new water pipeline for Mykolaiv under the so-called «quick plan», so funds for the project will be allocated from the reserve fund of the state budget.

The mayor of Mykolaiv spoke about this on the air of the Dialogue program.

According to him, the Mykolaiv Reconstruction Agency is ready to start construction, but the international partners insist on a standard procedure, which includes design, examination, conducting tender purchases and only then starting construction. Oleksandr Sienkevych stressed that it takes a lot of time, as the design itself can last one and a half to two years.

«We don't have that much time, so it was suggested to follow the «design-build» procedure. But European banking institutions are not ready to finance works under such a scheme,» the mayor said.

Therefore, according to Oleksandr Sienkevych, funds for the construction are planned to be allocated from the reserve fund of the state budget. The mayor announced that the construction of the new water main will begin in the near future, it will be divided into parts, and the work will be carried out by several contractors in different places.

In order to restore water supply in Mykolaiv, in general, it is necessary to build a pipe with a length of about 60 kilometers from the specified point of water intake.

Pipes damaged by salt water stored at Mykolaivvodokanal enterprise, August 2024, photo NikVesti

We will remind you that in August, the President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, commissioned the construction of a new water main to provide Mykolaiv with drinking water «on the fast track» — drinking water should be available by the summer of 2025. The government has already approved the corresponding program.

Oleksandr Sienkevych noted that after the President's mandate, personnel changes took place in the government, which delayed the solution to the issue of building a water pipeline.

«Mustafa Naiiem resigned (former head of the State Agency for Reconstruction, — note), the Minister of Community and Territorial Development was dismissed from his post. Since the release of these people, no one has dealt with the issue of water supply because they did not want to take responsibility,» Oleksandr Sienkevych said.

Water supply for Mykolaiv

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In May, Mayor Sienkevych expressed hope that the dismissal of Oleksandr Kubrakov from the post of Minister of Community Development, Territories and Infrastructure will not affect plans to build a new water main for the city.

Mustafa Naiiem was also dismissed in June. However, Naiiem himself later responded to the Ministry of Finance's accusation that the Agency had not provided the project with a water pipeline in the Mykolaiv region, noting that at the time of his dismissal, the terms of reference for the procurement procedure were already being prepared.

During the briefing on July 11, answering the questions of NikVesti, Vitalii Kim said that Mykolaiv has not yet received funds from the government for the construction of a new water supply, because the amount has changed there. He planned to present the updated estimate of the project for consideration by the government.

Earlier, the head of Mykolayiv RMA Vitalii Kim told journalists that thanks to the optimization of the estimate, about 3 billion hryvnias are needed for the construction of the water pipeline. Although earlier it was about the amount from 4 to 8 billion hryvnias.

It is worth noting that in two years the government did not allocate funds for the construction of a new water pipeline to provide Mykolaiv with quality water. What do the changes to Cabinet Resolution No. 566, approved on April 29, 2024, indicate, NikVesti writes. At the same time, in 2023, the government allocated 8.2 billion hryvnias for the construction of new water mains in the Dnipropetrovsk region, and 5.1 billion hryvnias this year.

During the conference in Berlin, the first vice-speaker of the Verkhovna Rada Oleksandr Kornienko, answering the questions of NikVesti, stated that the lack of drinking water in Mykolaiv is one of the biggest problems in Ukraine, which the state must solve in the near future.

The head of the Servant of the People parliamentary faction, Davyd Arakhamiia, believes that funds for the construction of a new water main for Mykolaiv should be allocated from the reserve fund of the state budget.