Spending on mysterious repairs to war-damaged houses in Bucha reaches UAH 50m // Collage KV
The Bucha city council has recently agreed to spend UAH 49.98 million on repairs for war-damaged houses in Bucha and nearby villages. The repair work includes fixing facades and roofs, as well as replacing windows and doors. However, the public cannot verify the progress and readiness of the repairs because the published documents do not specify the addresses of the work. The city council justified this decision by referring to changes in the law, which allow the customer not to disclose such information if it poses a risk for them or the contractor. The Bucha MPs claim to be unaware of these contracts. Meanwhile, the public suspects that selective disclosure of information may lead to corruption risks.
From September 12 to November 3 of this year, the Bucha City Council signed 8 repair contracts for residential buildings in Bucha and its surroundings, totaling UAH 49.98 million. These contracts were awarded without competitive bidding, as revealed by the BI.Prozorro public analytics module.
Seven contracts were signed for repairs of apartment houses in Bucha, and one more was signed for repairs of apartment houses in the municipality's territory. The contracts cover various types of work, such as facade repairs, roof repairs, window and door replacement, and interior finishing. However, none of the published documents specify the addresses for the work. In addition, two contracts do not even specify when the work will be completed, only that they are valid until the end of the year.
Mystery repairs of war-damaged houses in Bucha cost 50 million hryvnias.
The Bucha City Council selected the contractors without holding any tenders. All purchases were made under the category of “Ukrainian Liberation War,” based on the Cabinet of Ministers' instruction from February 28, 2022, No. 169 regarding defense and public procurement of goods, works, and services during wartime conditions. The Bucha authorities chose three contractors – entrepreneur Serhii Tsybulskyi, “Nidcom” LLC, and “Investment and Construction Company “Bild Life” LLC.
The largest portion, 67% or nearly UAH 33.5 million, was awarded to businessman Serhiy Tsybulskyy. Nidcom Ltd received 25% of the funds, equivalent to UAH 12.5 million, and the remaining 8%, which amounts to UAH 3.95 million, went to Bild Life investment and construction company.
It should be noted that when the first contract was signed without an address in September, the Buchansky City Council explained in response to a request from the CI that the address of the works was not specified in the published documents, citing paragraph 3.8 of the Law of Ukraine from 16.08.2022 ¹ 2526-IX “On Amendments to the Law of Ukraine “On public procurement” and other laws of Ukraine regarding the implementation of defense and public procurement for the duration of legal regime of martial law”.
As per this law, clients cannot share details about where they are, where contractors are, and where goods are provided if sharing this info could put them or the suppliers at risk.
The law does not explain how this information could be harmful. Meanwhile, the city council mentioned that the work is being done in houses damaged by Russian military actions.
The cost of undisclosed repairs to war-damaged houses in Bucha is now 50 million hryvnyas
The KV asked Bucha City Council deputies for a comment on these contracts, but none of the deputies we spoke to were aware of them. They couldn't explain how sharing the address of the works might harm the interests of their customer or contractor.
Oleg Kvashuk
“I know about the repair procurements and the 50 million hryvnias. But I've never heard that there are no specific addresses in the contracts. I don't understand how this info can harm someone. However, the legal department of the City Council follows the current situation and signs contracts according to the current laws. Life requirements are changing, and maybe there were some pre-conditions for this rule in the law,” – said deputy Oleg Kvashuk (Batkivshchyna).
Tatiana Sorokina
“I can't answer all your questions. But in my district, on Borys Hmyrya Street, a contractor is coming to repair the facades of buildings 11/6 and 9. I haven’t seen the contract terms yet, so I don’t know the contractor. I don’t sign contracts; I only safeguard my constituents' interests. And if there are genuine repair requests, I prioritize them,” – commented Tatiana Sorokina (“Servant of the People”).
MP Irina Yarmolenko (“New Faces”) is also unaware of such contracts.
However, the public suspects that selective information disclosure may involve corruption risks.
Viktor Barkholenko. The cost of undisclosed repairs to war-damaged houses in Bucha is now 50 million hryvnyas
I don't understand the risks of sharing the address of the repair works. There are only risks for the authorities to execute corrupt schemes and keep people uninformed. This is done to bypass the repair of an ordinary person's house and instead benefit a sycophant of power or a representative of power.
MPs don't want to know about it, since they are mainly there to solve their own issues. If the leader says so, they never mind, as everyone looks out for themselves and tries to avoid unnecessary questions.
The fact that it's written into the law indicates that things operate on a state level like they do on a local level. This regulation may be appropriate for critical infrastructure facilities, but seems unsuitable for the private sector. This comes from Viktor Barkholenko, a civic activist and Bucha resident.
About contractors in Bucha
Per Youcontrol analytical system, Mr. Tsybulskyy became an individual entrepreneur in 1996 in Dubrovitsy, Rivne region. His main business is preparatory work on construction sites.
As a result of taking part in public procurement, entrepreneur Serhii Tsybulskyi has signed 29 contracts totaling UAH 56.49 million, including the current one. The largest customer is Buchansky City Council, which started working with him in September this year and during this time he successfully entered into 6 contracts for 42 million hryvnias. Besides three present contracts for repairing houses in undisclosed locations, the Bucha City Council ordered carpentry and fixtures from Sergii Tsybulskyi. The rest of the contracts were awarded to the entrepreneur for work in the Rivne region.
Nidcom Ltd was established in 2017 in Kiev and now has registration in Boryspil. The registered capital is 430 thousand hryvnias. The main business is construction of residential and non-residential premises. The founders are Alexander Shishkin (66%) and Leonid Dorosh (34%). The director is Maxim Lazarenko.
Leonid Dorosh is also a co-owner of Armabud Ltd, Wooden House LLC and Peregrine Rest LLC. It should be noted that one of Leonid Dorosh’s business partners at Sarsan Rest LLC is Oleksandr Chunyak. The man with the same first name is an aide to Verkhovna Rada MP Oleh Semynskyy (Servant of the People faction).
Until the end of 2019, among the co-founders of Nidcom LLC was Oleksandra Rynk, who, according to former adviser to the capital’s mayor Maksym Bakhmatov, was at the time a journalist and the fiancee of the son of the first deputy head of the Kyiv City State Administration, Mykola Povoroznyk, Yuriy. Since early 2020, Alexandra Rynk left Nidcom, which, as Bakhmatov noted, happened after her marriage to Yuriy Povoroznyk, whose surname she took. Immediately after this information was made public by Bakhmatov, Mykola Povoroznyk said that he was suing him over “spreading false information”. Povoroznyk also said that he had asked the National Anticorruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU) to promptly conduct a full and impartial investigation into the information spread on social networks and media about his family members. However, in early August, Maksym Bakhmatov said that a lawsuit filed by Mykola Povoroznyk or his representatives had not been filed with the court.
Nidcom Ltd began winning public procurements in May 2019. Since then, the company has won 38 contracts totaling UAH 667.22m. The largest customers are metropolitan medical institutions. Specifically, 7 contracts totaling UAH 256.33m have been signed with Kyiv City Clinical Hospital No 1, with Kyiv City Clinical Hospital No 7 – 4 contracts for UAH 105.80 million, and 3 contracts for UAH 64.68 million with Alexandrovska Clinical Hospital.
The “Nidcom” company also actively obtains contracts for the performance of work in Bucha. In particular, 15 contracts totaling UAH 167.5 million have been signed with the Bucha City Council and 2 contracts totaling UAH 64.65 million with subordinate enterprises. In particular, the Bucha City Council and its Education Department ordered from Nidkom for UAH 69.96 million the construction of a recreation zone near the lake at Taras Shevchenko street in Myrotske village, for UAH 44.44 million the construction of a kindergarten at Lesya Ukrainka street in Bucha and for UAH 9.1 million the overhaul of Bucha school No 2.
Nidcom Ltd, commissioned by the Department of Regional Development of Kyiv Oblast Military Administration (KOMA), is repairing five multi-storey buildings in Bucha and two houses in the village of Blystavitsa in Bucha district damaged as a result of military operations.
Bild Life Investment and Construction Company LLC was registered in 2018 in Brovary, Kyiv Region. The share capital is UAH 1 thousand. The main activity is construction of residential and non-residential buildings. The founders and ultimate beneficiaries are Roman Snigir and Volodymyr Pyatenko (director).
Volodymyr Pyatenko previously headed the structural unit of Myroniv city party organisation “New Faces”, the head of which is ex-mayor of Irpen Volodymyr Karplyuk.
Contracts to repair the facades of apartment buildings in Bucha are the first experience of Bild Life Investment and Construction Company LLC’s victories in public procurements.
We remind you that the residents of Bucha were among the first in Kyivshchyna to hear and see with their own eyes the Rascal attack – the morning of February 24 Bucha residents awoke to the sounds of airfield bombing in neighbouring Gostomel. Russian troops on heavy equipment entered Buch on the morning of 27 February. The occupation of the town lasted 33 days – until 31 March.
Soon after the dismissal, Butch Mayor Anatoliy Fedoruk said that 1,148 facilities were damaged during the military actions in the city, including 130 apartment buildings, 974 private ones and 44 social infrastructure facilities, i.e. medical facilities, schools, kindergartens and other institutions. At the end of September 2022, updated data were made public, according to which 372 private and 2 apartment buildings are not eligible for reconstruction.
** Nidcom Ltd (USREOU code: 41564138)
** “Bild Life” Investment and Construction Company LLC (USREOU code: 41969018)
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