30 May 2025
(PHOTO: Yuzhny Buh Bridge/Korabelov.info)
The contract for the maintenance of the bridge in Mykolaiv may be awarded to a monopoly company without competition. Today, the company is in the status of suspension, but this does not prevent it from receiving multimillion-dollar contracts in public tenders.
This was reported by the Center for Public Investigations with reference to the Prozorro procurement system.
In May, the Service for Infrastructure Restoration and Development in Mykolaiv Oblast announced a tender for the maintenance of the Pivdennyi Buh Bridge, which crosses the Pivdennyi Buh River and is part of the M-14 Odesa-Melitopol-Novoazovsk highway. The cost of the work was estimated at more than UAH 54 million, and the contractor is to carry out construction and installation work within the second stage - on spans four through eight.
This time, electronic bidding did not take place, as only one bidder submitted its offer - the favorite of road government contracts, European Road Construction Company.
The company and its owner have been featured in several journalistic investigations. The company is one of the three contractors that most often receive contracts for road repairs in Mykolaiv region without open bidding.
The company was established in 2008 and is owned by Muslim Keloyev. The company belongs to the "Keloyev family group". Since 2018, the company has received more than UAH 6.9 billion in public procurement.
In 2025, the head of the Non-Stop NGO filed a lawsuit in court alleging a possible criminal conspiracy within the framework of the Presidential Big Construction program. According to the applicant, the scheme involved a former adviser to the Prime Minister, the leadership of the Ministry of Infrastructure, officials of regional administrations, and a number of contractors, including the European Road Construction Company.
According to him, they could have been part of an organized group engaged in embezzlement of budget funds, tax evasion and money laundering, in particular in Russia. The complaint also implicated tax and law enforcement officials from Mykolaiv and Dnipropetrovs'k regions, who were suspected of taking bribes to cover up the schemes. However, the court dismissed the complaint.
Earlier, the company also received contacts for the maintenance of the Pivdenobug and Ingul bridges. The company also does not forget about Kherson region. It recently selected a contractor for the road 's maintenance for 400 million. In addition, a tender was held for road maintenance in the region worth 180 million. The only participant and winner was the European Road Construction Company, which has been in the process of shutting down since December.
Анна Бальчінос