Sadovyi’s team decided to defend itself against attacks on Lviv’s energy infrastructure with 92.7 million UAH worth of paving stones

While the Cabinet of Ministers claims to have made changes to public procurement procedures in the hope of reducing the number of scandals at tenders, a new extraordinary situation has occurred in Lviv. There, the city council, headed by Andriy Sadovyi, allocated more than 90 million hryvnias for the reconstruction of the main street without holding any competition.

Telegraph journalists learned this from the Prozorro public procurement system. It is about additional reconstruction work on Stepan Bandera Street, for which the mayor’s office plans to spend 92.7 million. UAH.

Why are the dates different?

The winner of the tender was Onur Constructions International LLC, with whom the contract was signed, and there were no other bidders. Moreover, as it turned out, the contract with the “winner of the tender” was signed on September 2, while the auction with a single participant was held on September 15.

Agreement for September 2

This circumstance did not go unnoticed not only by the Telegraph, but also by the network users, who are already trying to draw attention to the tender conducted by the State Audit Service. However, two other circumstances are interesting:

1. The start date of the repair work specified in the contract is April 26, 2021, and the completion date is March 31, 2024.
2. The name of the public procurement indicates “Reconstruction of Stepan Bandera Street in Lviv. Adjustments. Additional works”.

Thus, it is not a full-fledged tender, but actually an additional agreement with the company that previously performed these works. This also explains the confusion with the dates, as the contract itself was concluded before the formal tender was held and named.

Work began in 2021 and will be completed in 3 years

Indeed, back in August 2020, Lviv held a tender for the reconstruction of Stepan Bandera Street, which was won by Onur Constructions International, and even then it attracted the attention of the media and politicians opposed to the city government.

Doubtful winner and suspicions of embezzlement

For example, the media noted that Onur Structures International’s competitor, Lviv Specialized Construction and Installation Department No. 1, offered its services for only UAH 10 more than Onur. According to the rules, the cheapest offer is preferred at the tender, and therefore this method is often used by unscrupulous businessmen and officials to win the auction, playing up competition between “their” firms.

And in October 2020, MPs from the European Justice party signed an appeal to the city authorities in which they drew attention to the fact that UAH 112 million was originally budgeted for reconstruction, but then additional contracts were signed for another UAH 97 million. The result was a sum of UAH 209 million, and Lviv Mayor Andriy Sadovyi was suspected of trying to withdraw this money from the city treasury through additional agreements, which is also often used by unscrupulous officials and businessmen.

In April 2021, Onur Constructions International began work on Stepan Bandera Street, and the street was opened to traffic only in December.

It is worth noting that Onur Constructions International is a subsidiary of the international construction corporation Onur Group, which is engaged in the construction of roads and related infrastructure.

In Ukraine, Onur Group companies have repeatedly won state tenders under the Big Construction program. For example, according to the analytical service YouControl, Onur Structures International won UAH 100.6 billion in government tenders.

However, this figure is obviously incomplete, since, for example, the Telegraph did not find UAH 301 million for Stepan Bandera Street in the list of tenders won by Onur Constructions International.

What’s next?

For three years now, Sadovyi’s team has been splitting the budget for repairs on Stepan Bandera Street and has already buried UAH 300 million in asphalt and paving stones. A full-scale war and a threat to the energy infrastructure are no reason to refuse to spend another UAH 92 million on much-needed paving stones. Moreover, there is no need to hold a tender – it is enough to sign another supplemental agreement, which was signed on September 15. This was reported by Insider UA.

While Lviv residents are demanding that anti-corruption authorities pay attention to this madness, I would like to ask one of the leaders of the Ukrainian Galician Party, Sviatoslav Litynsky, to pay attention to the situation. He is very good at criticizing the uncritical spending of local budgets in the Lviv region and attacking the head of the regional executive committee Kozytsky. Svyatoslav Volodymyrovych, could you say a few words about this wonderful purchase by your favorite mayor, Andriy Sadovyi?