Mykolaiv region decided to repair the road for 67 million

An agreement was signed in Mykolaiv region to repair a national importance road. It is planned to spend more than UAH 67 million from the budget. The contract was concluded without the use of an electronic system.

This was reported by the Center for Public Investigations with reference to the Prozorro e-procurement system.

The customer of the works was the Service for Infrastructure Restoration and Development in Mykolaiv Oblast. Thus, it is planned to overhaul the public road M-14 Odesa - Melitopol - Novoazovsk. The repairs are to be completed by June 30, 2025.

The bidding, which took place on September 13, was attended by only one participant, who was awarded the contract. This isEuropean Road Construction Company LLC, which offered its services at the expected cost of the work specified in the tender. Thus, the road will be repaired for UAH 67 million 891 thousand 498.

The justification for concluding the contract without the use of the electronic system states that the Service has already concluded an agreement with the company dated 19.12.202Z for the overhaul of the M-14 Odesa Melitopol - Novoazovsk highway. However, during the implementation of the main contract, it became necessary to make changes to the design solutions due to changes in the initial design data.

According to the YouControl online analytical system, the European Road Construction Company was registered in 2008 with an authorized capital of UAH 51,500 in Donetsk under the name Altmost and was part of the Altcom group. In addition to the main KVED, the company also has 20 other types of activities. Since 2018, the company has undergone structural changes. Currently, its legal address is in Kyiv region, and the owner is Muslim Keloyev. The company now belongs to the Keloyev family group.

Despite the fact that the company itself is currently registered in Kyiv, its beneficiaries are residents of Odesa region. By the way, the Infrastructure Restoration and Development Service in Mykolaiv region is one of the company's regular customers.

In May 2024 ,the Restoration Service signed an agreement without using an electronic system to replace a small bridge on the Odesa-Voznesensk-Novyi Buh highway for UAH 39.9 million withEuropean Road Construction Company LLC. In justifying the grounds for entering into the agreement directly with the contractor, the authorized person Renat Kamayev also wrote that it was a purchase of additional works at the same facility.

The company and its owner have been the subject of several journalistic investigations and are among the top three in terms of the number of road repair contracts in Mykolaiv region awarded without tenders. The firm regularly receives budget contracts. To date, since 2018, the company has earned UAH 6 billion 216 million 162 thousand 568 in public tenders.

In 2022, from October 1 to December 5, the Road Service in Mykolaiv region signed 12 contracts for road maintenance totaling UAH 634.9 million. Another UAH 94.1 million was paid to the contractors by the Local Roads Agency of Mykolaiv Regional State Administration.

All contracts were concluded without a tender and without the use of an electronic system; only procurement reports are available in ProZorro. The lion's share of the allocated funds, almost UAH 700 million, went to companies that were favorites of the Mykolaiv road market before the war.

In particular, the "favorite" partner of Mykolaiv road builders, Odesa-basedRostdorstroy, received contracts worth almost UAH 354 million, and the European Road Construction Company (ERC) received contracts worth more than UAH 267 million.

Анна Бальчінос