Even the war is not a hindrance: Sadovoye City Hall spends hundreds of millions of hryvnias on roads and landscaping

Rallies are currently taking place across Ukraine demanding that local authorities allocate more financial resources to the needs of the Armed Forces of Ukraine instead of investing in road repairs, parks and flower planting. However, this initiative has not been unanimously understood everywhere. An example of the differences in approaches is Lviv, where the budget for 2023 amounted to more than UAH 1.5 billion, which is managed by the Lviv City Council headed by Mayor Andriy Sadovyi and allows for street repairs for UAH 92 million and much more. Local authorities have already spent more than UAH 450 million from this budget on projects that are not related to the defense and security of Lviv residents.

Among these expenditures, funds are mainly allocated for road reconstruction, green areas, maintenance of fountains, cleaning, transportation services for officials, and other similar projects. The main focus is on road reconstruction. For example, in September 2023, Lvivavtodor entered into an agreement for UAH 92 million 715 thousand 412 with the Turkish company Onur to reconstruct Stepan Bandera Street. This reconstruction, although already carried out before, is the city’s debt to the contractor. In total, the cost of renovating this street will exceed UAH 300 million.

Obviously, the same thing happened on credit with the reconstruction of ul. Pylyp Orlyk (Onur should receive for this 33 million 294 thousand. 951 UAH) and overhaul of the street. Pekarskaya and ul. Shimzers (here you have to pay 20 million 303 thousand. 785 UAH The companyVelt Capital, owned by Tetyana Pavlenko from Lviv). These streets are accessible for driving. The city authorities also plan to pay a representative office of the Turkish “Onur” 11 million 450 thousand. 132 UAH for the reconstruction of Palace Square. And for 33 million 327 thousand. 901 UAH Staroznesenskaya Street will be overhauled (the Ukrainian company BC Zakhid Neo Bud will receive the funds). Of course, this does not mean that these amounts will be covered in 2023.

Lvivavtodor also decided to spend money on “cleaning and sweeping parking lots,” which will take another more than 428 thousand. UAH. The money will go to entrepreneur Mariana Putsylo and her employees. The works are being carried out this year. At the beginning of the year, the road needed new road signs worth more than UAH 2.1 million.

In addition to road projects, Sadovyi and his team allocate funds for the beautification of Lviv. For example, almost UAH 25.6 million was allocated for the overhaul of the central alley and adjacent areas of Zamarstynivskyi Park, which will become “inclusive” and serve to rehabilitate war victims. In total, more than UAH 28.6 million is planned to be spent on purchasing flowers, trees, mowing lawns, maintaining fountains and other similar services.

In total, according to journalists’ estimates, more than UAH 28.6 million will be spent from the budget this year on purchasing flowers, trees, mowing lawns, maintaining fountains, etc. For example, to
to plant flowers
in Halych district are ready to spend almost UAH 1.2 million and another 700 thousand. UAH for
tree care
that grow in hard-to-reach places. For
maintenance of the fountain
on Palace Square will be paid 645 thousand UAH. UAH, and for
dismantling
advertising structures, the city will spend UAH 395 thousand. UAH. And almost 600 thousand more. will go to
painting
and glazing of landscaping elements in the Shevchenkivskyi district. And the installation of the columns in the Galician district will cost more than 768.5 thousand. UAH.

Lviv’s district administrations, which are subordinate to the city government, also repair roads. Expenditures of more than UAH 66 million were planned for this purpose. The largest orders can be seen in the table:

The most expensive for district administrations will be cleaning and improvement of children’s, children’s sports and sports grounds in the Zaliznychnyi district (over UAH 4.4 million), planting and care of plants in the Galician district (over UAH 2.7 million), landscaping and plant care at the Citadel landscape complex next to the 5-star Citadel Hotel (over UAH 2.25 million), landscaping and plant maintenance in Lychakiv district (over UAH 2.18 million), mowing lawns in Halych district (UAH 1.89 million) and purchasing of lawns there plant seedlings for 930 thousand. UAH. At the same time, the cost of certain services and goods may be overstated.

All this spending has caused outrage among citizens, who demand that more resources be allocated to defense needs during the war. In response to this situation, the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine decided to deduct a portion of the personal income tax (PIT) from city budgets. This will reduce budget spending on irrelevant projects, such as parks and advertising, and provide more funds for the country’s defense.