25 June 2026
(The Port of Odessa. PHOTO: ukrinform.ua)
The Ukrainian Sea Ports Authority (USPA) is preparing to pay 114 million hryvnias to the sole bidder in a tender for repairs at the Port of Odesa. A breakwater previously built by this company in the port has sunk.
The Center for Public Investigationsuncovered the details of the tender and what lies behind the contractor’s history.
The Odesa branch of the state-owned enterprise “Ukrainian Sea Ports Authority” has selected the winner of the tender for the major repair of Berth No. 14 and railroad tracks No. 44 and No. 45 within the port. The estimated cost of the work was 114.65 million hryvnias. The work will be financed using the enterprise’s funds generated from its business operations and is scheduled to be completed by the end of 2027.
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Despite the significant procurement amount, the bidding took place without competition. The only company to submit a bid was “Mast-Bud” Enterprise LLC. The bid amount fully matched the expected procurement price.
Accordingto theYouControl analytical system, “Mast-Bud” Enterprise LLC was registered in 2005 in Mariupol. After the city’s occupation, the company was re-registered in Kyiv. The company is part of the “United Bridge Construction Company” LLC group. Previously linked to businessman Mykhailo Becker, it is now owned by Odesa entrepreneur Oleksandr Boiko. The company specializes in the construction of bridges, overpasses, and interchanges, as well as hydraulic structures and port infrastructure.
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The company is one of the largest contractors for infrastructure projects in Ukraine. Even during Yanukovych’s presidency, it regularly received large government contracts from Ukrzaliznytsia, Ukravtodor, the Ukrainian Sea Ports Authority (AMPU), and other government clients. Since 2017, Mast-Bud Enterprise LLC has secured government contracts worth more than 4.1 billion hryvnias. Among its main clients are the Infrastructure Restoration and Development Service in the Odesa region, the Kyivavtoshlyakhmist Municipal Enterprise, and the Odesa and Mariupol branches of the USPA.
At the same time, the company’s activities have repeatedly been the subject of journalistic investigations and criminal proceedings.
One of the company’s projects was the construction of a breakwater in the Odesa Seaport, costing over 571.6 million hryvnias. Just a few years after the work was completed, part of the structure sank, and the port administration was forced to finance its restoration. In 2021, the company also received a contract to build a container terminal at the Port of Odesa.
In 2018, Mast-Bud LLC signed a contract with the Dnipro City Council worth nearly 312 million hryvnias.
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During the course of the work, the project’s cost increased, and the completion deadline was repeatedly postponed. Subsequently, law enforcement authorities opened a criminal investigation, suspecting the use of materials that did not comply with the project documentation. An expert examination found that some of the concrete and steel structures did not meet specifications, as well as a possible overpricing of materials. The preliminary amount of losses was estimated at 29.5 million hryvnias.
In this case, the company’s founder, Mykhailo Becker, the then-director Serhiy Rozbey, and the production site manager Mykyta Zavolika were named as suspects. In 2019, Becker was released on bail of over two million hryvnias.
Questions about the company’s work also arose during the repair of the bridge across the Khadzhibey Estuary on the Kyiv–Odesa highway. In 2019, Mast-Bud Enterprise LLC was awarded a contract worth nearly 346 million hryvnias, and the following year, the contract value was increased by nearly 87 million more.
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In 2022, the company signed another contract worth over 24 million hryvnias to repair the same bridge. Later, law enforcement authorities also opened a criminal investigation, suspecting that the contractor had not completed the full scope of work but had submitted documents claiming full completion in order to embezzle budget funds.
On the eve of the full-scale invasion, the Antimonopoly Committee allowed Avtomagistral-Pivden LLC, owned by Oleksandr Boiko, to acquire United Bridge Construction Company LLC, which includes “Mast-Bud” Enterprise LLC as part of its structure. Following this, the company came under his control.
However, even after the change in ownership, the company continued to be implicated in criminal proceedings. In 2025, during an investigation into the construction of a water pipeline for Kryvyi Rih, the corporate rights of “Avtomagistral-Pivden,” "United Bridge Construction Company," "Mast-Bud" Enterprise LLC, and other companies were recognized as material evidence.
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The Pecherskyi District Court of Kyiv seized the corporate rights of these companies but later revoked the seizure. The court noted that the investigation had not provided sufficient evidence of Oleksandr Boiko’s involvement in the possible overpricing of materials, and that he himself did not have the status of a suspect.
In addition, over 38 million hryvnias for a shelter for a lyceum in the Odesa region are set to be awarded to a company that was the sole bidder in the tender. Despite its multi-billion contracts, the firm has repeatedly come under scrutiny from journalists, auditors, and law enforcement officials.
Анна Бальчінос
In the Odesa region, a patrol officer was convicted for forcibly detaining a woman with a disability