ME «Mykolaiv Parks» told why they need another loan of ₴45 million for vehicles to clean the streets of Mykolaiv

Director of the municipal enterprise «Mykolaiv Parks» Dmytro Chuchmai, photo NikVesti

The municipal enterprise «Mykolaiv Parks» is asking to take out another loan to buy four additional vehicles to clean city streets.

This was discussed during a meeting of the City Council's Housing and Communal Services Committee on 20 November, according to NikVesti.

Ihor Nabatov, first deputy director of the city council's Department of Housing and Communal Services, said that this draft decision is similar to the one that the company used to purchase four special vehicles with credit funds.

«Mykolaiv Parks» plans to take out a loan under the state programme «Loans of 5-7-9% available». The total amount of the loan is 45.1 million hryvnias, but Mykolaiv will have to pay 27 million hryvnias, added Ihor Nabatov.

«We also have the opportunity to save 40% of the cost of these multifunctional machines. Thanks to the support of Denmark, IFO Corporation provides an opportunity to receive 40% through a grant for Danish-made equipment. Therefore, by agreeing to enter into an agreement for 45 million hryvnias, the amount we will actually pay will be 27 million hryvnias. The loan term is up to 3 years,» explained Ihor Nabatov.

Dmytro Chuchmai, director of «Mykolaiv Parks», said that one such machine can do the work of about 25 employees.

«Since January this year, we have already had four such machines operating in the city. I'm only going to talk about sweeping now. One worker sweeps an area of 3760 square metres in an 8-hour shift, and one machine sweeps 96,000 square metres. In order to sweep an area of 96,000 square metres, 25.5 employees need to be involved. The total cost per month for 25.5 employees is 440,743 hryvnias and 60 kopecks, while the cost of one machine doing the same job is 263,417 hryvnias. The economic effect of one machine per month is 177,326.60 hryvnias. The payback period of one machine is 29 months,» said Dmytro Chuchmai.

He added that they need eight such machines to sweep the entire city of Mykolaiv.

Employees of the municipal enterprise «Mykolaiv parks» at work, photo NikVesti

However, the coucillors did not support the idea of taking out another loan for additional equipment to clean city streets.

«In the wording, I see that the «fund can support the agreement». So it turns out that it may not. It seems to me that we are gaining a lot of credits during our term, especially for the ME «Parks», where a lot of money is spent,» said Oleksandr Kovtun, a city council member who was elected from «Sharii's party» and now joined the newly created inter-factional association «Sanation».

Dmytro Chuchmai replied that «is a settled issue» and that the Danish partners will provide this assistance if the draft decision is adopted at the city council session.

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«They have one condition: this equipment must be manufactured in Denmark. And the metal for these machines is purchased in Ukraine at metallurgical enterprises,» added the director of the municipal utility.

City council member Iryna Boichenko, who was elected from the party «Opposition Platform — «For Life», noted that during October she drove by the corner of Skoropadskoho Street (formerly Admiral Makarov Street) and Soborna Street every day and noticed that it was not cleared of leaves.

«During the week, the street was not cleaned even once. I was there both in the morning and in the evening. That is, the city centre was not cleaned at all during the week,» said Iryna Boichenko.

Uncollected leaves on Admiralska Street. Photo by NikVesti

Dmytro Chuchmai replied that the four units of special equipment, for the purchase of which the city took out a 43 million hryvnias loan, cannot cover the entire area of Mykolaiv. He promised that this problem would disappear if the company purchased four more cleaning machines with the loan money.

«The leaves are falling very heavily there, and as I said, these four machines cannot clean the whole city at the same time. We have already refused to use contractors. There is no contractor at the enterprise now, the whole city is serviced by the municipal enterprise. That's why, maybe, we don't reach «with our handles». Therefore, we ask you to support this initiative and buy 4 more municipal vehicles to mechanise manual labour,» said Dmytro Chuchmai.

After that, the city council member from the party «Proposal», the chairman of the commission, Dmitry Ivanov, added: «At the corner of these streets, there are only plane trees that we can't cut in a European way. They are very tall and have a lot of leaves. We are saying that they do not have enough machines for this cleaning. We need to buy these 4 machines».

«That's right,» added Dmytro Chuchmai.

Dmytro Ivanov announced that he would already put the issue of a loan for additional equipment for «Mykolaiv parks» to a vote.

«I ask for your support to keep the city clean. I would like to remind you how many scandals there have been in the past about cleaning by different contractors. Today we have abandoned them. We do it all ourselves. And how much money we have saved,» said Dmytro Ivanov in the affirmative.

Dmytro Chuchmay and Dmytro Ivanov at the commission meeting, screenshot from the broadcast on the city council's YouTube channel

This position caused outrage among city council member Yevhen Prudnyk, who was elected from the party «Opposition Platform — For Life».

— And what have we saved? Explain to me! What have we saved? he asked.

— We saved money, replied Dmytro Ivanov.

— We pay the utility company for its work and still maintain it. If private companies did it, we would pay only for the work, added Yevhen Prudnyk.

— I'm sorry, what does that mean? asked Dmytro Chuchmay.

— Are you against keeping our city clean? added Dmytro Ivanov.

— I am in favour of the city being clean, but I am in favour of it costing less, the councillor explained.

— And it does cost less, added Dmytro Chuchmai.

As a result of the vote, the members of the housing and communal services commission did not support this draft decision: 4 deputies «for», 1 — «against», 1 — abstained.

How does the municipal enterprise «Mykolaiv Parks» work?

Funding for the municipal enterprise «Mykolaiv Parks» has increased significantly over the past five years — from 8.6 million hryvnias in 2020 to 167.2 million hryvnias in 2023. This year's budget of the enterprise is 144 million hryvnias, which is slightly less than in the previous year.

At the same time, as of August 2024, the utility employs 262 staff members. This is a six-fold increase compared to 2021, when the figure was 39 people. However, the company needs about 400 more staff members, said director Dmytro Chuchmai.

In July 2024, NikVesti published a video of utility workers mowing «dust in the centre of Mykolaiv in 40-degree heat. Afterwards, the municipal enterprise «Mykolaiv Parks» responded to this publication. They explained that on Soborna Street, workers used a trimmer to rake leaves and mow grass if it came across.

The total value of the company's vehicle fleet is estimated at 35 million hryvnias.

Read also the article NikVesti «How does the municipal enterprise «Parks» green Mykolaiv during the war?»