The outdated housing stock of Kyiv will eat part of the budget // KV collage

The program of complex reconstruction of quarters (neighborhoods) of the outdated housing stock of the city came into force in Kyiv, for the implementation of which the city authorities planned to allocate 494.8 million hryvnias from the city budget. These funds are planned to be spent exclusively on the inventory of “Khrushchev”, “Stalinka” and other old residential buildings. The leadership of Kyiv promises that investors will then restore these buildings. However, there are warnings that it is the development of funds for the survey of houses that is the Program’s goal in itself. After all, the Kyiv City Council and the Kyiv City State Administration have not yet even determined by what procedure and under what conditions investors will be elected (the procedure for holding the relevant competitions is not even spelled out), what requirements the reconstructed houses must meet, where the city authorities will resettle residents of old high-rise buildings, etc. .

As became known KVthe decision of the Kyiv City Council No. 5818/5859 dated December 8, 2022 on the approval of the Program for the Comprehensive Reconstruction of Blocks (Microdistricts) of Outdated Housing Stock in Kyiv has recently come into force.

Recall that the draft of this program was developed by the PE “Institute of Urban Studies” during 2019-2022 by order of the Department of Construction and Housing of the Kyiv City State Administration (KSCA). June 29, 2022 project the decision to approve it was registered with the Kyiv city council – the subject of its submission de jure was the commission of the city council on housing and communal services and the fuel and energy complex (housing and fuel and energy complex). On October 27, 2022, this document was supported by the Moscow City Council, but only in the first reading – the deputies decided to finalize it together with the Kyiv City State Administration. A month and a half later, on December 8, ready draft decision was submitted to the session hall of the Kyiv City Council for final approval in the second reading.

What is the program about

When preparing the draft program for consideration in the second reading, the city authorities developed a number of amendments to this document, which somewhat changed the mechanism for its implementation. However, the main essence of this project was preserved.

Thus, the city leadership, as originally planned, declares its intention to reconstruct all 256 quarters of the outdated housing stock of the capital, in which there are more than 4.9 thousand multi-storey buildings. At the same time, as it was envisaged by the initial version of the draft decision, 15 quarters are indicated as priorities for reconstruction – the corresponding list includes quarters dominated by obsolete residential buildings; in which there is a valid urban planning documentation at the local level (for example, detailed plans of territories are approved); in which there are no planning restrictions that significantly limit possible measures for comprehensive reconstruction, etc.

According to the decision, the city authorities plan to allocate funds in the amount of UAH 494.8 million from the city budget for the implementation of the program. The KSCA intends to use these funds until 2026 only on the inspection of houses of obsolete housing stock (at the rate of 100 thousand hryvnias for the inventory of one building). The program notes that the Department of Construction and Housing of the Kyiv City State Administration must “ensure its implementation within the scope of expenditures provided for in the budget of Kyiv for the relevant years.” That is, at the end of each year, the city authorities will separately decide how much budgetary funds they can or want to allocate for such an “important” inventory.

It should be noted that the Program provides that for its implementation this year, funding in the amount of UAH 15 million should be allocated from the budget of Kyiv. The city budget for 2023 (approved by the decision of the capital City Council No. 5828/5869 of December 8, 2022) does not yet have a line on the allocation of funds for the implementation of the activities of this Program. That is, either the city authorities have not yet provided appropriate funding (this can be done when adjusting the budget. – KV), or it is skillfully “hidden” among other expenses of the Department of Satisfaction and Housing of the KSCA.

It is also noteworthy that the city authorities decided to make the Program open-ended – at the suggestion of the Secretary of the City Council Vladimir Bondarenko by decision, the “temporary boundaries” that set the “deadline” for the operation of this document in 2026 were removed.

It is indicative that the city authorities have not yet decided what procedure should be used to reconstruct the quarters of the obsolete housing stock in Kyiv – this nuance was paid attention to by the KV even when the draft Program was approved in the first reading. The decision only stipulates that the Department of Construction and Housing of the KSCA should “ensure the organization and conduct of a competition to attract investors-developers for the implementation of projects for complex reconstruction, replacement of the housing stock” and the like.

Outdated housing stock in Kyiv will eat part of the budget

At the same time, the approved decision does not contain specifics on how the priority of reconstruction of certain quarters will be determined, according to what procedure and under what conditions the mentioned investment competitions should be held (only it is indicated that this should take place “in accordance with the law”), what requirements “reconstructed” houses must answer, where the city authorities will resettle the residents of the houses in which the corresponding work will be carried out, etc.

Moreover, the document did not even contain an instruction to the KSCA to develop a Regulation or Procedure for holding such competitions, which could somehow explain the ignorance of these important bureaucratic nuances by the city authorities. It is noteworthy that the remarks about the absence of the Procedure for holding competitions approved by the City Council in a corresponding letter were expressed by the Department of Legal Support for the Activities of the City Council, but such a claim was ignored by the deputy corps.

It should be noted that the Department of Construction and Housing of the KSCA also recommended to approve at least some mechanism for holding these competitions. Even before considering this issue in the first reading, the officials proposed to form the conditions for such tenders based on the results of an inventory of objects – that is, it was about the fact that each quarter should have been submitted to the tender separately, based on the state in which it is (it was proposed to conduct technical inspection of buildings and structures, their energy audit, etc.) and how it should be reconstructed (this can be direct reconstruction, modernization, demolition, etc.). However, this rule was not included in the final version of the decision.

Moreover, the approved Program lacks a rule that the reconstruction of quarters of obsolete housing stock should take place precisely on the basis of the results of the inventory. The provisions on the need to conduct a survey of buildings and their reconstruction on the basis of such an inventory are generally found in the decision in different paragraphs – as if they do not relate to each other. At the same time, approving the relevant Program, the Kyiv City Council supported the proposals of its secretary Volodymyr Bondarenko that the decision cancels the decision of the City Council No. 52/7625 of November 12, 2019 “On the inventory of obsolete housing stock in Kyiv”. Thus, what were the results of this inventory and whether the city authorities will have to absorb funds twice at the same events remains a mystery.

In addition, the City Council decided to turn a blind eye to one more fairly fair remark from the Office of Legal Support of the City Council. So, lawyers noted that at the end of 2021, the Cabinet of Ministers registered in the Verkhovna Rada a draft Law of Ukraine on the implementation of a comprehensive reconstruction of quarters (microdistricts) where there is an outdated housing stock (No. 6358), which significantly changes the procedure for the reconstruction of such quarters. The management noted that the approaches that served as the preparation of this program may lose their relevance. But the deputy corps of the Kyiv City Council was also not embarrassed by this fact.

All of the above circumstances suggest that the main goal of this Program is not the reconstruction of outdated “Khrushchev” and “Stalinka” quarters in the capital, but only the development of budgetary funds for the inventory of houses. At the same time, the lack of clear mechanisms for holding investment competitions for the implementation of the reconstruction itself can lead to various kinds of manipulations on the part of officials of the Kyiv City State Administration and potential investors, which in turn can cause corruption scandals and resistance from residents of these high-rise buildings.

Outdated housing stock. background

Recall that on March 3, 2016 the Kyiv City Council decision No. 119/119 instructed the KSCA to exercise a number of powers in the field of comprehensive reconstruction of quarters of outdated housing stock. According to this order, officials must take “participation in the development and implementation of programs for the reconstruction and replacement of such housing stock, determine the areas for the reconstruction of neighborhoods.” A little over a year, July 13, 2017, the capital city state administration order No. 828 determined the Department of Construction and Housing of the KSCA as the customer for the development of the draft Program for the Comprehensive Reconstruction of Quarters (Microdistricts) where there is an outdated housing stock in Kyiv for further submission to the Kyiv City Council.

It was to fulfill these two decisions of the city authorities that the above-mentioned draft program was developed only five years later. This delay is due to several factors.

Thus, the city’s leadership during this time complained about the lack of a legislative framework that would allow the implementation of this program. In particular, the Kyiv City State Administration drew the attention of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine to the absence of an approved standard investment agreement, on the basis of which private investors could be attracted to the reconstruction of houses. In this regard, among other things, the city authorities in 2018 petitioned the government for “legislative transfer of authority to approve the form of such an agreement to local governments.”

A no less serious problem that hindered and, probably, may further hinder the fulfillment of the tasks of this program is the lack of a so-called “maneuverable fund” – temporary housing, in which residents of emergency houses and houses subject to reconstruction will be resettled for the duration of construction work.

Back in June 2017, the commission of the Kyiv City Council on housing and communal services and the fuel and energy complex instructed the Department of Construction and Housing of the Kyiv City State Administration to develop a Regulation on the obsolete housing stock of communal property in the capital, but so far such a document has not yet been approved. Ignoring such requirements in the capital city state administration was explained several reasonsincluding the fact that, according to the requirements of the law, the problems of temporary resettlement of Kiev residents should actually be dealt with by investors-developers who want to carry out reconstruction.

Recall that for 2017 in the capital officially counted 2 thousand residential buildings with a total area of ​​about 7.5 million square meters. meters that have exhausted their technical resource and are subject to demolition or major reconstruction. Now the relevant Program notes that in fact we are talking about more than 4.9 thousand of these high-rise buildings.

Recall PE “Institute of Urban Studies” (developer of the said Program), through its founder LLC “Terra Project”, enters the orbit of influence of Andrey Vavrish – the infamous ex-deputy director of the Department of Urban Planning and Architecture of the KSCA (2010-2015) Development”. Partial confirmation of this is the fact that it was Terra Project that received the largest part of the orders for the development of Detailed Territory Plans (DTP) in the capital – according to the testimony KV sources in the Kyiv City Council and the Kyiv City State Administration, so this exposadovets got the opportunity to earn good money from the Kyiv City State Administration.

The Department of Construction and Housing of the KSCA from July 2, 2021 heads Boris Worker. Since 2018, the activities of this department have been controlled by the Deputy Chairman of the Kyiv City State Administration Vyacheslav Nepop (on the collage to the right). The latter is known as the ex-director of the KP “Zhilinveststroy-UKB” (from 2002 to 2018) and a deputy of the IV, V, VII, VIII convocations and the current IX convocation of the Kyiv City Council (in the last elections he passed from the party of Kyiv Mayor Vitaliy Klitschko “BLOW”).

Since the beginning of the current IX convocation of the City Council, since December 8, 2020, the commission of the Kyiv City Council on housing and communal services and the fuel and energy complex has been headed by a deputy Alexander Brodsky (in the collage on the left). This body consists of 7 deputies. In the last term of the Kyiv City Council (2015-2020), Brodsky, being a member of the Unity faction, headed the commission on trade, entrepreneurship and regulatory policy.

Ivan Kulik, translation Skeleton.Info

DOSSIER: Vyacheslav Nepop: “flayer” from the construction mafia in Kyiv. PART 1

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