Mykolaiv district administrations: how much do they spend on road repairs and are they afraid of «cutting» powers

Mykolaiv, archive photo: «NikVesti»

There are four districts in Mykolaiv: Zavodskyi, Tsentralnyi, Inhulskyi and Korabelnyi. It is their administrations that are responsible for road maintenance and street cleaning. Over the past three years, more than 573 million hryvnias has been spent on these needs.

But soon everything may change: after the reorganisation of the structure of the executive bodies of the city council, district administrations will lose some of their powers, including the functions of customer for street cleaning, private sector road repairs and landfill elimination.

Read more about whether district administrations currently have enough funds for road maintenance and what they think about the upcoming changes in the article written by NikVesti.

Viktor Dmytruk, head of the Zavodskyi district administration. Photo: Mykolaiv City Council

Zavodskyi district

Expenditures on road repairs and maintenance:

• 2022 — 22 million 463 thousand 858 hryvnias;
• 2023 — 47 million 805 thousand 826 hryvnias;
• 2024 — 20 million 387 thousand 649 hryvnias.

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Over the past three years, the administration of Zavodskyi district has spent 90.6 million hryvnias on road repairs and maintenance. However, according to Viktor Dmytruk, the head of the district, 90% of the work requested by residents has to be postponed to the following years due to lack of funding.

According to the head of the district, it is still unclear how the administrations will work under the new structure, so it is difficult to make predictions.

«It's hard for me to say what will happen, because the deputies have now voted for the new structure, but we don't yet have an understanding of the administrations. Therefore, I cannot make any predictions... I will give you one example that characterises the attitude to what is happening. Six years ago, the Department of Housing and Communal Services was responsible for repairing intra-quarter passages. So, when it was decided to transfer these powers to restore intra-quarter passages to administrations, this issue moved forward and work began that had not been carried out for 25 years of Ukraine's independence,» says the head of the district.

Head of the Central District Administration Oleksandr Bereza, archive photo «NikVesti»

Central district

Expenditures on road repairs and maintenance:

• 2022 — 63 million 304 thousand hryvnias;
• 2023 — 129 million 765 thousand hryvnias;
• 2024 — 92 million 342 thousand hryvnias.

In the Central District, 285.4 million hryvnias was spent on repairs over three years. However, the head of the administration, Oleksandr Bereza, notes that this is not enough for the existing scope of work.

«There are many more appeals from citizens than the funding allocated from year to year. Most streets remain unpaved. The private sector needs funding to improve the road network. Many applications are postponed from year to year and are waiting for funding,» says the head of the administration.

He also notes that there is currently no discussion about reforming district administrations, and if it is necessary to transfer the functions of the customer for certain works, then it is necessary.

«This is the division of powers and it is regulated by the decision of the executive committee and it is constantly changing in accordance with the current needs. Something is added, something is removed, something is transferred to someone else. Currently, there is no discussion on this issue. In any case, if it is the decision of the mayor, we have to comply with it. What is my attitude? If the mayor thinks it will be effective for the city, we will ensure this effectiveness,» says Oleksandr Bereza.

Head of the Ingul district administration Hanna Remennikova. Photo: NikVesti.

Ingul district

Expenditures on road repairs and maintenance:

• 2022 — 24 million 306 thousand 231 hryvnias;
• 2023 — 29 million 322 thousand 413 hryvnias;
• 2024 — 35 million 238 thousand 145 thousand hryvnias.

Over the past three years, 88.8 million hryvnias has been spent on repairs and maintenance of the road network in the district. Hanna Remennikova, head of the Ingul district administration, notes that they try to complete all repairs within a year so as not to postpone them.

«We do not postpone from year to year. We had one major capital construction in 2023-2024, because there is a large mileage, about 6 kilometres. These are capital expenditures. We make current expenditures in one year,» says Hanna Remennikova.

Regarding the new structure of the city council's executive bodies, she notes that they are still working on plans for road repairs for the next year, and then it will be seen.

«Time will tell, we don't know yet. We are not talking about it yet, as we are planning expenditures for the next year with a plan to repair roads and inter-quarter passages,» she adds.

Oleksandr Tsukanov, head of the Korabelnyi district administration. Screenshot from the programme of the shopping mall MARTA

Korabelnyi district

Expenditures on road repairs and maintenance:

• 2022 — 13 million 815 thousand 915 hryvnias.
• 2023 — 45 million 538 thousand 267 hryvnias.
• 2024 — 49 million 396 thousand 468 hryvnias.

Over three years, 108.7 million hryvnias was spent on road repairs and maintenance. The administration of Korabelnyi district noted that there are more than 200 private sector streets and alleys in the district, and most of these streets and alleys need asphalt pavement.

«Every year, the administration carries out current and overhaul repairs of the road surface in different neighbourhoods of the district within the available budget funding. However, the annual repairs performed do not cover the urgent need for asphalt paving on private sector roads. Currently, about 70% of private sector streets and alleys need to be repaired. About 60% of intra-quarter and intra-yard passages need major repairs», the administration said.

In addition, the district administration notes that the loss of authority to remove garbage and repair roads could worsen the situation.

As a reminder, on 28 August, members of the Mykolaiv City Council approved an updated structure of the city council's executive bodies.

What does Sienkevych propose in the new structure of Mykolaiv City Hall?

Back in April, Mykolaiv Mayor Oleksandr Sienkevych presented a draft of a new structure of executive bodies, which was developed in accordance with the recommendation of the Ernst & Young audit . The new structure envisages a reduction in the number of key spending units, liquidation and consolidation of departments. At the same time, the mayor's office is not yet able to say how much the number of executive body officials and their maintenance costs will be reduced.

The draft of the new structure of Mykolaiv's executive authorities, presented in April 2025, screenshot from the mayor's presentation

At the same time, the draft of the new structure of executive bodies of Mykolaiv city council envisages an increase in the number of deputy mayors to seven. It is planned to create the position of vice mayor for digitalisation.

The draft of the new structure of the executive bodies of Mykolaiv City Council provides for a reduction in the powers of district administrations, which will no longer be the main spending units. The heads of the two districts, who are also deputies, publicly reacted to this: Oleksandr Bereza and Hanna Remennikova.

At the same time, it was reported that Mykolaiv Mayor Oleksandr Sienkevych believes that deputies should not combine representative and executive functions, and therefore should not hold positions in the executive bodies of the city council.