The mayor of Mykolaiv about the new water supply: «The project stopped after the dismissal of Kubrakov and Naiiem. They don't invite me to meetings»

Oleksandr Sienkevych, mayor of Mykolaiv, photo: NikVesti

The project to build a new water main to supply drinking water to Mykolaiv stopped after the government dismissed Oleksandr Kubrakov and Mustafa Naiiem from their positions.

Mykolaiv City Mayor Oleksandr Sienkevych stated this in an interview with «RBK-Ukraine» publication.

The mayor said that after the dismissal of the officials, he was never personally invited to any of the meetings regarding the construction project. He believes that the process is currently stalled at the state level.

«Our water is technically of poor quality, we distribute drinking water, the project was carried out by Kubrakov and Naiiem. After their release, the project to build a new water main stopped. I was not invited to any meetings and I am not aware of what was discussed there. The city cannot do this, the water intake is not on the city territory, the pipe will not go through the city territory. In fact, we can deal with the reconstruction of sewage treatment plants, but for this we need to start the work project directly. It is necessary to identify the main participants of this project, etc.,» said the mayor Oleksandr Sienkevych.

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In particular, Oleksandr Sienkevych noted that despite constant conversations, in two years Mykolaiv has not yet seen concrete actions to restore water for the citizens.

«We communicate with everyone, we have already spoken many times. They say they are working on this issue. But as a result, we do not see any concessions, no deadlines are set, we cannot say when it will start at all. I believe that this project should be made as public as possible, talk about it everywhere, because Mykolaiv has actually been without water for two years,» he added.

It will be recalled that 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 the 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 did not provide a water supply project in the Mykolayiv 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, Mykolaiv has not yet received funds from the government for the construction of a new water pipeline, because the amount has changed there. He planned to present the updated estimate of the project for consideration by the government.

Recently, in the last interview, 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 Korniienko, 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, David Arakhamiia, believes that the funds for the construction of a new water pipeline for Mykolaiv should be allocated from the reserve fund of the state budget.