Who Gets the Budget Pie
As 2024 draws to a close, a construction boom has taken over the Mikilskaya Slobodka residential area. Here, work has commenced on a small park adjacent to Metropolitan Andrey Sheptytsky Street, high-rise buildings, and a polyclinic.
Special tractors, trucks, and workers were busy laying down tile pavements and bringing in black soil for the lawns. The green space is being revitalized. Officially, this work is referred to as "capital repairs."
1Kashtan NEWS inquired with the Kyiv City State Administration about the cost and information regarding the contractor. The response came from Yuriy Bakhmat, the general director of "Kyivzelenbud."
2“The total estimated cost according to the project amounts to 57 million 414 thousand 515 hryvnias. In 2024, following the procurement process, a contract was signed with the contracting organization PP “Rialbud.” Within the scope of this contract for this year (2024, – ed.), priority works include: capital repairs and partial installation of park paths, installation of benches and trash bins, and landscaping. The completion of the project is planned for 2025, provided budget allocations are available.”
A relatively small park is receiving 57 million from the city treasury! Isn't that a bit too generous during wartime? Are there no more "urgent" needs?
What is planned to be done?
3“To create a modern, safe, and comfortable public space for relaxation and recreation for all residents of the area, considering the needs of all categories of residents, including those with limited mobility,” informs the head of “Kyivzelenbud,” detailing the map of the future updated park.
Thus, the project includes capital repairs of the playground with the replacement of the existing surface with rubber, installation of modern safe equipment, including inclusive elements, fencing, and the arrangement of convenient entrances from the pedestrian paths.
A sports rehabilitation area with a rubber surface will also be constructed, equipped for physical education and sports for residents of the surrounding buildings, including patients of the polyclinic.
The relaxation area will undergo major renovations, replacing the existing surface with new seamless concrete tile elements. Lighting will be installed.
4They have also accounted for a waste collection area with three containers, covered with seamless concrete tile elements.
Additionally, two bike parking areas with five bike spots (also with seamless tile surface) will be created.
Old concrete slabs and asphalt will be replaced with new seamless concrete slabs. Furthermore, new pathways will be created, as noted by Yuriy Bakhmat, “to improve accessibility to the park.” Tactile tiles for orientation for visually impaired individuals will also be installed, along with new benches and trash bins.
5Let’s highlight this line in the plan:
“The installation of stands with informational tactile markings that duplicate textual information in tactile form of flat-printed text and Braille; the installation of metal directional signs to the nearest shelter, playground, sports rehabilitation area, and metro station, indicating distance. The information is duplicated on signs in tactile form of flat-printed text and Braille.”
This impressive array of planned works, we must emphasize, comes at a significant cost to the budget. The signs indicating the distance to the metro station, as you can understand, will not be made for free.
The opportunity to manage millions of hryvnias has fallen to the private enterprise “Rialbud.” And it is already familiar to both Kyiv residents and those living in the surrounding region.
6According to data from the analytical system Youcontrol, “Rialbud” (formerly known as PP “Tatoyan” until April 2021) was registered in 2009 in Bohuslav, Kyiv region. The statutory capital is 150 thousand hryvnias. The main area of activity is road and highway construction. The founder and ultimate beneficiary is Artashes Tatoyan. The director is Oleksiy Horbach.
Artashes Tatoyan is a deputy in the Kyiv Regional Council from the party “European Solidarity.”
Tatoyan's firm has considerable experience winning tenders worth millions of hryvnias in Kyiv and the region. As reported by the publication “KyivVlada”, during September 2022, major repairs of asphalt surfaces in courtyards and internal driveways in three districts of the city amounted to over 41 million hryvnias. Almost half of all funds were paid to “Rialbud.”
7In October 2024, “KyivVlada” reported that a scandal erupted in the capital over plans to renovate and potentially develop a park in Chekhovsky Lane, located in the historical city center. Residents of building No. 11 in the Shevchenkivskyi district opposed the felling of trees and an unapproved capital repair, which was to be completed by the end of the year by “Rialbud” for over six million hryvnias. They placed notices on the construction fence surrounding the park, calling for an end to the unauthorized works. The general contractor is “Rialbud,” which wins the tender for over 6.1 million hryvnias and was the only participant in the procurement.
However, let’s return to the park in the Mikilskaya Slobodka area. “Rialbud” was the only participant in the tender. Some works were to be completed by the end of 2024. Today it is evident that the work is still ongoing. Have they not finished?
8Did the green builders consult the local community regarding the major renovation of this natural corner? For instance, retiree Vasyl Petrovych, who lives nearby, was surprised by the scale of the work. In a conversation with a Kashtan NEWS correspondent, he mentioned that no one had offered residents a chance to express their opinions regarding the capital repair. He had not heard anything about public hearings. He was particularly struck by the amount of money that would be spent on this "wonder." In his opinion, this is a very large amount of funding—"golden."
Saleswoman Halyna Petrovna from the local shop says that the strange scheme for laying the pedestrian paths in the park is a mystery to her. There are too many of them in a small area, and this recreation zone is densely crisscrossed with them. Why?
9We found information online stating that in 2017, local residents created a social media group to support and disseminate information about a public budget project—they wanted to modernize the park on Metropolitan Andrey Sheptytsky Street, creating recreational areas. They envisioned this corner becoming more convenient and better. The cost of the public project was noted to be two million hryvnias. Unfortunately, this project did not garner enough votes to win at that time.
Times have changed. So have the “appetites” of tender winners. The park is now being taken care of by the “green builders,” and the budget has allocated 57 million 414 thousand 515 hryvnias. Meanwhile, the community had once planned that two million would suffice.
0Upon examining the documentation for the park's renovation, the cost of benches caught my eye. It is planned to install 20 such furniture structures. They are stylish and comfortable. However, the cost of one “Olymp” park bench is 12 thousand 947 hryvnias. Thus, the total cost for the benches will amount to 258 thousand 940 hryvnias.
At the same time, on online sales pages for such park benches, it is stated that the cost of one starts from seven thousand hryvnias. The price difference, as we can see, is substantial.
However, is there any sense in saving budget funds? The city treasury is vast. And there are billions of hryvnias there. They need to be spent!
Bohdan TUR