«I advise you to look in the mirror»: Illiuk replied to Yermolaiev, who called deputies «land fixers» after the scandal with the construction of a petrol station in the green zone

Ilyuk responded to Yermolaiev, who called MPs «land grabbers» after the scandal over the construction of a petrol station in the green zone. Archive photo: «_nikvesti»

Artem Iliuk, a non-factional deputy of the Mykolaiv City Council, commented on the statement by the head of the anti-corruption department, deputy from the «Propozytsiia» party, Andrii Yermolaiev.

He published the relevant post on Telegram.

As a reminder, Andrii Yermolaiev criticised the deputy corps, calling the decision of the City Council to build a petrol station in the green zone near the «Zoria»-«Mashproekt» illegal.

In response, Artem Illiuk said that the political forces that took control of the city administration at the beginning of his term were responsible for the current state of affairs in the city council.

«At the beginning of our term, the parties «Propozytsiia», «Servant of the People», «Sharii's Party», «European Solidarity» and «Nash Krai» united and formed «coalition», which jointly elected the Secretary of the City Council, deputy mayors, shared leadership in commissions, and distributed key roles in city management. It was all done quickly and in violation of the law. My team and I spoke out against this arbitrariness. I warned that the consequences would not be in favour of Mykolaiv residents. Therefore, I advise some deputies to look in the mirror! It is there that you will see the person who created this system! Apologise to the citizens and start correcting your mistakes!», Artem Illiuk wrote.

Artem Illiuk's message. Screenshot from the telegram channel: @a_iliuk

Earlier, Tetiana Dombrovska, a deputy of the Mykolaiv City Council from the «Servant of the People» party, responded to Andrii Yermolaiev's remarks. She stressed that the deputies had become hostages to the actions of the executive branch, which, according to her, had concealed the legal opinion, confused project numbers, and violated the deadlines for publishing documents before the session.

As you know, preparatory work has begun in the Ingul district of Mykolaiv for the construction of a filling station «OKKO» and shops. The site is located at the intersection of Bohoiavlenskyi Avenue and Kobera Street. On 7 May, the contractor and a representative of the State Environmental Inspectorate inspected the site. Residents of Inhulskyi district have already appealed to the mayor of Mykolaiv, Oleksandr Sienkevych, to stop the construction of the petrol station.

Earlier, the chief architect of Mykolaiv, Yevhen Poliakov, said he was unaware of plans to demolish about 200 trees to build a petrol station in the green zone near the plant «Zoria»-«Mashproekt» for the construction of the petrol station. Commenting on this information on 9 May in response to questions from journalists NikVesti, he called it absurd.

Advertising

Later, the mayor of Mykolaiv, Oleksandr Sienkevych, responded to the scandal of the petrol station construction in the green zone and instructed his subordinates to prepare a report.

Scandalous construction in Inhulskyi district

The story around the construction on Kobera Street began in 2014. At that time, the company «Svit Zdorovia» received a land plot near «Zoria»-«Mashproekt» to build a sports and recreation complex. Some of the trees on the territory were cut down back then.

In March 2014, the then acting mayor, Yurii Hranaturov, publicly acknowledged during a meeting of the city executive committee that the situation raised many questions and stated that construction was suspended until the feasibility of the project was clarified. Nevertheless, according to local residents, work continued, mostly at night.

In January 2015, the conflict escalated. Residents of houses located on Kobera Street and employees of the plant «Zoria»-«Mashproekt», came out to protest. They claimed that a petrol station was being built on the site of the complex, despite the fact that according to the documents, it was supposed to be a health centre. According to them, construction continued at night despite a ban from the city council. They complained about the cutting down of about 100 trees in the park area, trenches in their yards and the disruption of the ecological balance in the industrial area.

Already on 28 January 2015, Mykolaiv City Council refused to extend the lease of the land plot to «Svit Zdorovia».

A year ago, the city council initially approved the actual renewal of the lease agreement for a 7,643 square metre land plot to Lviv-based «Svit Zdorovia», formally for the construction of a sports and recreation centre and maintenance of administrative buildings. Two months after this decision, the city council approved a change in the land plot's designated purpose to place and operate road service facilities. Both issues were submitted to the session in the «package» with other land issues and were adopted without discussion.