170 million per kilometer: The Mykolaiv Region Reconstruction Service held its second tender with a single contractor

 The road connecting the Mykolaiv region with central Ukraine has once again taken center stage due to a large-scale infrastructure project. After the previous tender was canceled, the contracting authority conducted a new procurement process, but once again, there was no competition.

The Mykolaiv Regional Infrastructure Restoration and Development Service issued a tender for major repairs to a 12.447-kilometer section of the H-24 national highway from Blahovishchenske to Mykolaiv via Voznesensk. The estimated cost of the work is 2 billion 66 million 388 thousand 323 hryvnias, excluding VAT.

The tender was announced on July 25, 2026. Funding for the project is provided, in particular, through the Ukraine Facility program, which is financed by the European Union. The documentation states that 310.63 million hryvnias have been allocated from the state budget for the implementation of public investment projects, while an additional 2.169 billion hryvnias have been designated as funds from the state or local budgets.

<picture></picture>SCREENSHOT: Prozorro

The project covers the H-24 section from km 134+050 to km 146+497 in the Mykolaiv region. The total length of the section scheduled for major repairs is over 12 kilometers.

Only one bidder submitted a bid—Rostdorstroy LLC. The company offered a price 4.13 million hryvnias lower than the estimated procurement cost.

However, as of August 12, a final decision on the winner had not yet been made—the system indicates that a decision is pending. The work is to be completed by December 20, 2029. 

This procurement marks a second attempt to carry out a large-scale repair of this section of the H-24 highway. The previous tender, which also called for the repair of over 12 kilometers of road, was canceled in July 2026 after the submission and review of bids had already been completed. The reason cited was a violation of public procurement laws, which the contracting authority was unable to remedy.

Then, as now, the sole bidder was Rostdorstroy LLC. The previous procurement had an estimated cost of nearly 2.5 billion hryvnias.

<picture></picture>SCREENSHOT: Prozorro

According to the YouControl analytical system, Rostdorstroy LLC has been operating in the market since 2005 and is classified as a large business. The company’s ultimate beneficiaries are Yuriy Schumacher, a member of the Odesa City Council from the “Trust the Deeds” party, and businessman Yevgen Konovalov. 

The company was also involved in a legal dispute with the Odesa Regional Prosecutor’s Office. In 2023, the Odesa Regional Commercial Court considered a lawsuit filed by the prosecutor’s office regarding the fulfillment of a road construction contract; according to the prosecutor’s office, repair work had not begun, even though the contractor was supposed to receive over 500 million hryvnias.

According to data from the Center for Policy and Reform (CPR), in the first half of 2026, the Odesa Regional Infrastructure Restoration and Development Service announced 104 tenders worth nearly 5 billion hryvnias. The company became the largest contractor in terms of the volume of contracts awarded during this period—five contracts with a total value of 1.39 billion hryvnias.

Анна Бальчінос