Mykolaiv Housing and Communal Services explained why 4 housing reconstruction projects were ordered for the second time

The Department of Housing and Communal Services of Mykolaiv has explained why the «HOPE» project included houses damaged by military aggression, for which the city had previously ordered the development of design and estimate documentation.

This was discussed during a briefing by the department on Thursday, 6 November, according to NikVesti.

In particular, the issue concerned the damaged house at 32 Admiralska Street, where Mykolaiv signed a contract with the company «Arch Design» in the summer of 2025 to develop a reconstruction project. However, Ihor Nabatov, deputy director of the Housing and Communal Services Department, noted that this situation is not unique to this address.

Procurement under the World Bank's rules is lengthy — it can take up to three months from the announcement to the signing of the contract. Therefore, the Housing and Communal Services Department carried out its own procurement to carry out stabilisation works — measures that helped to save the building from further destruction.

«The logic of the HOPE project is to rebuild better than before. All our projects, for various reasons, are about rebuilding so that people can come in and live. Unfortunately, sometimes there are situations where we have already designed, or even if we are designing somewhere in parallel. Why is that? The HOPE project is quite long-term. We see that even the simplest procurement under the World Bank's rules takes three months. This is the fastest option from the moment of announcement to the moment of signing the contract. In our cases, it takes a maximum of two weeks from the announcement to the signing of the contract. Currently, there is a task for designers to develop documentation by April 26, but I don't believe in it. We see that all the houses are quite complex and no one can definitely meet these deadlines by April 26. But this is not even the issue. Our projects usually include only stabilisation measures to keep the house standing. HOPE is about energy saving, improvement measures, if necessary. In any case, our projects are narrower than those that will be developed under HOPE. And there may be a situation where we may be able to start construction work, but HOPE will complete those things that were not provided for in our restoration work, says Ihor Nabatov.

Artem Sapozhnyk, deputy director of the department, noted that the agreement was signed before it became known which houses would be included in HOPE. At the same time, the housing department adds that one does not interfere with the other.

«At the time of the need to design 32 Admiralska, we did not understand whether this house would be included in HOPE at all. This is just to explain why this sometimes happens. And, in principle, we ordered the design for this very purpose, to start moving with the subsequent restoration of this house. And the final list of houses under the HOPE project was already formed this year, when we were already in full swing with the design,» he said.

At the same time, according to Ihor Nabatov, there were doubts at the level of the Ministry and the World Bank about whether the building at 32 Admiralska Street could remain in the HOPE programme. One of the entrances of the house is completely destroyed and needs to be rebuilt «from scratch», which contradicts the concept of «Build Back Better».

«According to the passport, there are 4 entrances, now there are 3. That is, we have to restore the 4th entrance. Unfortunately, there are real contradictions there. And they are so significant that we have skipped this procurement for now, we decided to leave it for the last time so that they could make up their minds. Even the question is not with the Ministry, but with the World Bank, because the normative definitions of reconstruction in Ukrainian legislation and at the World Bank level can be interpreted differently.

And, unfortunately, there may even be a situation where this house will be demolished altogether. All documents, technical reports, commission inspection reports were previously sent to the ministry, and they saw them, and there were no questions at that time. Now, for some reason, they have begun to arise,» said Nabatov.

Nevertheless, the department emphasises that even if this building is excluded, the recovery cluster will not be affected, as there are other facilities that can be replaced and the work can continue.

As you know, Mykolaiv is one of the five communities selected under the grant project «Housing Repairs to Restore People's Rights and Opportunities «HOPE», funded by the World Bank. For Mykolaiv, 54 houses were selected and divided into 21 clusters. 150.3 million hryvnias will be spent on their design. This list includes at least four buildings that already have developed design and estimate documentation. This is stated in the article NikVesti «Projects for the reconstruction of 4 houses in Mykolaiv will be ordered twice: Why it happened and how the authorities will avoid duplication».

At the same time, the city council says it is not sure whether all fifty houses will be rebuilt in time for 2027. At the same time, projects for the reconstruction of high-rise buildings have to be completed by April 2026.

Read also the article NikVesti «Reconstruction or just documents: how 150 million hryvnias of the World Bank will be spent in Mykolaiv».