A secondary school in Ternivka is unable to set up a shelter due to a lack of funds and an old boiler room

A secondary school in Ternivka is unable to set up a shelter due to a lack of funds and an old boiler room. Illustrative photo: Ukrainian News

Gymnasium №16 in Ternivka, Mykolaiv, is unable to set up a shelter. The city lacks the funds to do so and, furthermore, the boilers from the old boiler room are still in the basement, preventing the shelter from being fitted out.

This came to light at a meeting of the city council’s committee on health, social protection, education, culture, tourism, youth and sport on 28 July, according to NikVesti.

Serhii Zhmur, acting head of the Mykolaiv City Council’s Department for Emergency Situations and Civil Protection, spoke to the committee about the situation regarding the shelter. According to him, the municipal enterprise «Zakhyst» reported that a total of 2.4 million hryvnias had been allocated for the repair of civil defence shelters under the enterprise’s management.

«With these funds, the «Zakhyst» municipal enterprise is carrying out routine repairs to the protective structures on its books, which are located in residential buildings. KP «Zakhyst» has no additional funds to carry out work on the protective structure at this grammar school,» said Serhii Zhmur.

In addition, the grammar school has issues with its boiler room. Serhii Zhmur noted that the Department of Energy Efficiency is currently being downsized and proposed transferring the design and cost estimate documentation for the reconstruction of the gymnasium’s boiler room to the regional utility company «Mykolaivoblteploenergo».

«The expenditure allocated to the Department of Energy Efficiency should be transferred to the Department of Housing and Communal Services. In other words, the situation is as follows: the municipal enterprise «Zakhyst» has no funds for the refurbishment. Furthermore, work has not yet begun on dismantling the boilers there and fitting out the boiler house,» said Serhii Zhmur.

The chair of the committee, Hanna Nord, emphasised that the main issue is that children must attend school in the local area, as there are no schools nearby. According to Serhii Zhmur, approximately 1.2–1.3 million hryvnias are needed to fit out the shelter. But these funds are not available.

Hanna Nord asked what should be done about the children in that case.

«Allocate additional funding to the «Zakhyst» municipal enterprise for the construction of shelters. Firstly, a boiler room needs to be built there so that work can then begin. There are boilers in the basement. If we remove the boilers from that basement, the school won’t be heated at all. In other words, there’s no point in setting up any sort of shelter there until the boiler room has been built,» said Serhii Zhmur.

The committee took note of the information, as they cannot make any decisions at the meeting, but must look into the matter further so that the children can attend school in person.

However, Mykola Lohvinov, director of the municipal enterprise «Mykolaivoblteploenergo», told NikVesti that the company had already begun work at the grammar school to install a modular boiler house.

«The Department of Energy Efficiency has drawn up a project to install a modular pellet-fired boiler room on the school premises. We were provided with the design and cost estimate documentation about a month and a half ago; we have completed the expert review, signed a contract with the contractor and have already begun work on preparing the site for the relocation of the modular boiler house. We plan to commission this boiler house by November this year,» said Mykola Lohvinov.

He pointed out that the company has no connection with the old coal-fired boiler house.

«The boiler house in the basement was not transferred to us and is of no concern to us. A project was to be carried out there for the dismantling of the boiler house and the construction of a shelter,» noted the director of «Mykolaivoblteploenergo».

It should be recalled that residents have complained about the poor condition of the shelter at 69 Tsentralnyi Avenue in the centre of Mykolaiv. According to them, the shelter lacks lighting and seating, and the contact number listed on the information board is not working.