«ELU Avtodorih» promised to complete the emergency repair of the broken structure of the Varvarivskyi Bridge at noon

«ELU Avtodorih» promised to complete the emergency repair of the broken structure of the Varvarivskyi bridge by around 12:00. By this time, accordingly, the full traffic on the bridge should be opened.

Vitalii Shevchenko, director of the utility company, reported this in a comment to NikVesti.

— There is an emergency situation. At night, a large whip fell off. A new one is being installed now. This is an emergency situation, not a scheduled repair. Now the new one is already being welded, bolts are being put in place and traffic will be opened somewhere around 12 o'clock, said Vitalii Shevchenko.

He also added that the bridge is still under the care of «ELU Avtodorih», as the documentation process is currently ongoing.

— «Ukravtodor» is currently at the transfer stage. Acts have already been prepared, copies have already been sent to us for proofreading. Now we are proofreading them, preparing balance sheet documents and going through the entire transfer procedure. I think we will hand it over in a week or two, said Vitalii Shevchenko.

Earlier it was reported that on the morning of December 6 in Mykolaiv there were traffic jams in the area of the Varvarivskyi Bridge and along Heroiv Ukrainy Avenue. The transport collapse occurred due to the breakdown of a part of the Varvariv bridge and its emergency removal.

We  remind you that during the meeting on October 13, the Government made a decision to transfer the Ingulsky and Yuzhnobuzskyi (Varvarivskyi) bridges in Mykolaiv to state ownership. After that, the Deputy Minister of Infrastructure of Ukraine, Mustafa Nayem, told about the stage of the Mykolaiv bypass bridge project and the plans for the repair of the Varvarivskyi and Ingulskyi bridges.

As you know, Varvarivskyi Bridge in Mykolaiv is part of the M-14 highway of international importance «Odesa — Melitopol — Novoazovsk» and is currently in a state of emergency. In February 2020 , the process of transferring the bridge from the municipal ownership of the city to the balance sheet of Ukravtodor began, but it has not yet been completed. This is due to the fact that the Ministry of Finance is asking Mykolaiv to provide the cost of reconstruction of the building in order to accept Varvarivskyi Bridge as state property. For this, the city needs to conduct an examination and order design and estimate documentation for the repair of the bridge, the total cost of which is about 20 million hryvnias. The mayor of Mykolaiv, Oleksandr Sienkevych, said that there are no funds for this in the city budget.

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is also aware of the need to repair the Varvarivskyi bridge. In July 2019, the head of state announced that solving the problem of the Varvarivskyi bridge is the governor's first priority. Four months later, during a briefing in Ochakiv, Volodymyr Zelenskyy voiced this issue again. Then he forced the acting governor of the Mykolaiv Oblast Oleksandr Stadnyk to promise to repair the Varvarivskyi bridge by the end of 2020.

The issue of the transfer of the Varvarivskyi bridge was also addressed by the deputy of the Mykolaiv City Council, Tetiana Dombrovska. In July 2021, she initiated a meeting with the participation of the Minister of Infrastructure Oleksandr Kubrakov, representatives of the Ministry of Finance, «Ukravtodor» and the city council, in order to understand the issue of the transfer of the bridge. However, this also did not give results, because after two months the issue was not resolved. At the same time, «Ukravtodor» reported that the question of allocating money for the repair of the Varvarivskyi bridge will be considered only after it is transferred to state ownership.