Mykolaiv lacks funds for water and sewer services for housing for internally displaced persons

In Mykolaiv, city council members questioned the city’s readiness to provide the necessary utilities for the modular housing units intended for internally displaced persons. There are no funds available to connect water and sewer services.

This came to light during a meeting of the city council’s standing committee on ecology and natural resource use, where the issue of allocating land plots to the municipal enterprise “Sviy Dim” was being considered.

Committee Chair Olena Nesterenko asked the enterprise’s director, Maksym Lytvynenko, whether funding had been secured to install all necessary utilities.

Upon receiving the response that funding for design work is available only for the electrical grid, the committee chair clarified: “So, am I correct in understanding that we are only being given the building itself, and we must install all utilities at the expense of the city budget?”

The committee chair expressed concern that the selected site might turn out to be a poor choice.

“If we understand that we don’t have the funds, perhaps we should choose another location so as not to lose these buildings,” said Nesterenko.

She noted that this issue had already been raised at the committee’s previous meeting and asked whether the company had considered an alternative site on Oleg Olzhych Street, where, she said, all the necessary infrastructure is already in place.

One of the council members emphasized that the issue is not the donor funding itself, but the city’s willingness to fulfill its part of the agreement.

He warned against a scenario in which the community would spend budget funds on paperwork, only for the shelters to never actually be installed:

“We don’t want the housing units to exist only on paper, and then for us to throw up our hands and say, ‘Donors, we didn’t make it in time; sorry, you didn’t fulfill the condition, but we’ve already spent the funds with you.’ I want this to be implemented,” he said.

Maksym Lytvynenko explained that the company has the resources to design the electrical system but currently lacks funds for water supply and sewer systems: “We have the funds for the project. As for water and sewer systems, well, to be honest, there won’t be enough.”

According to him, the company is in contact with other donors and international partners in search of additional funding, but there is currently no confirmed source of funds.

The deputies emphasized that once the building permits are issued, the company has only three months to connect the structures to the utility networks. If this deadline is missed, the donors will have the right to reclaim the houses, and the funds already spent by the community on land-use documentation will be lost.

The issue of allocating land plots to the company was postponed for further review.

Ірина Глухова