Mykolaiv region overpaid 15 million to contractors linked to officials

In Mykolaiv region, during the full-scale war, large construction procurements are held virtually without competition. Contracts worth millions of hryvnias are awarded to companies affiliated with the government, which leads to significant overpayments from the budget.

This is stated in the material of Nikcenter.

The journalists found that companies close to the head of the Voznesensk District State Administration, Oleksandr Kukuruza, overestimated the prices of materials in estimates by more than UAH 15 million. Nikcenter investigated large tenders in Voznesensk and Pervomaisk districts. It turned out that almost 617 million hryvnias are held by First Ukrainian Construction and Holnest, whose owners, in particular, are related to Kukurza by family or business ties. This leads not only to missed deadlines, but also to significantly inflated prices for construction materials.

The journalists compared the prices of steel rebar and concrete in the contracts of these companies with the prices of other contractors and market offers. For example, for the shelter of the Prybuzkyi Lyceum, First Ukrainian Construction Company sold a ton of rebar for UAH 48,828, while Hostor-2 charged UAH 39,900 for the same rebar in another lyceum. According to the DOZORRO monitoring project, the market price at that time was UAH 31,864-33,500 per ton. In Pivdennoukrainsk, prices were even higher, reaching more than UAH 50,000 per ton.

The situation is similar with concrete. For Prybuzkyi Lyceum, First Ukrainian Construction sold a cubic meter of concrete for UAH 5,738. At the same time, Antares-BUD in Vradiyivka charged only UAH 3,780 for the same concrete, while leading suppliers offered it at a price of about UAH 3,500.

In total, the potential overpayments for these two types of materials alone in the contractors' estimates amount to more than UAH 15 million. This indicates a possible misuse of budget funds intended to ensure the safety of citizens in the frontline region.

Катерина Глушко