Mykolaiv Roads Agency Spent ₴1B on Tenders Amid Competition Issues

Since the beginning of the full-scale war, the Local Roads Agency of Mykolaiv region has spent billions of hryvnias on road maintenance and repair, with most tenders being won by the same companies without proper competition. The procurement process was frequently audited by auditors, as some of the procurements were conducted with violations.

Intent decided to use the Zakupivli.pro platform to find out what the Mykolaiv Oblast Local Roads Agency spent budget funds on from February 2022 to April 2025.

Since the beginning of the full-scale war, the Agency has been making inexpensive purchases of laptops, equipment and stationery, but in November it announced a tender for road maintenance for more than 14 million. The winner was Dorbud 777 without competition. In the same month in 2022, the company announced a similar tender for more than 79.5 million, which was also submitted by only one company, Mykolaivmagistral.

In March 2023, more than 658 million was allocated for the maintenance of the region's roads, and Mykolaivmagistral LLC was awarded the contract again, reducing the price to 617 million.

In June of the same year, a search was announced for a contractor to overhaul the Bashtanka-Bereznehuvate public road (km 13+394 - km 19+000). Almost 234 million was allocated from the budget for this purpose.

By the way, the State Audit Service of Ukraine decided to check this tender for bank guarantees. The violations were eliminated, and this time two bidders came to the auction - European Road Construction Company and Mykolaivmagistral, a private enterprise. The first company was recognized as the winner, having reduced the initial amount to 195 million. This company has already earned over UAH 6.3 billion in public procurement.

In September, an auction for the overhaul of the Bashtanka-Bereznehuvate road (km 0+000 - km 4+000) was also held for more than 183 million. This tender was also subject to complaints. The complainants demanded that the embezzlement of budget funds, especially in times of war, be stopped and that these funds be redirected to strengthen the country's defense capabilities. They pointed out that it was taxpayers' money and demanded that the funds be used to purchase protective equipment and medicines for the needs of the Armed Forces.

The auditors decided to check this tender and found that the documentation was not drawn up in accordance with the law. The violation was eliminated, and Gneis-S and European Road Construction Company took part in the bidding, which won with a bid of more than UAH 173 million.

In April 2024, the Agency again announced a tender for the operational maintenance of public roads. While a year ago, more than 658 million was allocated for the maintenance of roads in Mykolaiv region, this time it was more than 691 million.

It should be noted that all of these tenders were funded by a subvention from the state budget. This time, only one participant applied and won, Mykolaivmagistral, which reduced the initial purchase price to UAH 655 million. On April 3, 2025, the stolen contract was amended to specify how the price was distributed over the years. It was also noted that this project is funded by the state budget reserve fund.

The latest expensive tender also concerns the maintenance of the region's roads, for which almost a billion hryvnias have already been allocated. According to the documentation, the work is planned to be performed on roads with a total length of more than 3,000 kilometers.

The auction was held on April 10, 2025, and was attended by two companies - Mykolaivmagistral Private Enterprise and Imperialbud Consortium. The latter company won, offering an amount 96 million less than the expected value. The company is associated with a businessman who once headed the Ternopil Oblast Road Service.

In 2024, funding for road repairs in Mykolaiv dropped to 240 million hryvnias, which is half as much as last year. Most of these funds were used by three large contractors, who effectively divided the market among themselves, eliminating competition in tenders. This creates opportunities for inflating prices for construction materials and avoiding proper control over the quality of work performed.

Анна Бальчінос