It was decided to convene a special session of the Odessa City Council to discuss a loan

Igor Koval, the acting mayor of Odesa, has convened city council members for an extraordinary session.

According to the Odesa City Municipality’s press office, the meeting is scheduled for July 14. 

The agenda for the special session consists exclusively of financial matters. Specifically, council members will be asked to approve the budget execution report for the first quarter, grant land tax exemptions for 2027, address parking fees, approve changes to land tax rates and land lease provisions, and review regulations regarding the council members’ fund. They will also be asked to approve the investment program of Infox LLC. 

And, of course, issues related to credit lines and, above all, the approval of an agreement on arranging credit financing for the project to modernize the heat supply system in the city of Odesa. This agreement with the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development provides that “Odessa City Heating” will be able to receive 10 million euros in grant funds by opening a 25 million euro credit line. The conclusion of this agreement was cited as the reason for postponing the continuation of the session, which was scheduled for July 8, to July 10. The fact is that when a quorum could not be reached on July 8, the meeting was postponed until July 14, but it was then decided to resume it on July 10, and again, a quorum was not reached. 

At that time, many experts noted that the only way to gather council members to address priority issues would be to schedule them for a special session. In addition to “TMO,” other municipal utilities plan to open credit lines, but this time with Ukraine’s “Ukrgasbank” and under the state’s “5-7-9%” program; these loans also involve millions, but in hryvnias.

These include:

• “City Roads.”
• “Miskzelentrest.”
• “Odessmiskosvitlo.”
• "Vuzivsky Housing and Utility Service."
• "Housing and Utilities Service 'Chornomorsky'."
• "<span>Khmelnytskyi Housing and Utilities Service."</span>
• "Porto-Frankivsk Housing and Utilities Service."
• "Fontansky" Housing and Utilities Service.

Problems withthe session’sproceedings began to surface during earlier meetings, when the issue of expanding the city council’s executive committee arose; initially, it was proposed to include veteranVadym Shipulin, a move strongly supported by deputies from the “Trust the Deeds” party faction, which was founded by former MayorHennadiy Trukhanov. DeputyIryna Yasinovych has been particularly vocal on this issue. However, Ihor Kovalrefusedto include this issue on the agenda at that time and stated that candidates for the executive committee would be selected by the Council of Veterans. According to the plan, the Veterans’ Council is supposed to consolidate the views of the veteran community and elect a representative on behalf of the veterans, rather than on behalf of political parties.

Кирило Бойко