Torn roads will be repaired after the start of the heating season in Mykolaiv

Repair of networks on Mariupolska Street. Photo: NikVesti

Potholes in the streets of Mykolaiv will remain until the heating season is fully launched.

This was announced by Mayor Oleksandr Sienkevych during a meeting of the executive committee on 22 October, NikVesti reports.

According to the mayor, the townspeople are worried about the open sections of roads, but this is a temporary stage after large-scale repairs to the heating networks. The pits will not be filled in until the heating is turned on to check their performance.

«The gaps will remain until the heating is fully operational. This year, a large number of networks have been replaced — both by «Mykolaivoblteploenergo» and by Mykolaivska CHP. For example, the famous Mariupolska street was not only repaired, but a significant amount of pipes was laid. They are now being tested and undergoing hydraulic tests. It makes no sense to fill in the trenches until the systems are up and running — we need to see how it works. After the launch, all networks will be backfilled and restored», says the mayor.

The mayor also commented on cases where the ground sinks after the networks are laid and the road is restored.

«After the pipes are backfilled, we often have soil subsidence, as happened on 6 Slobodska Street. The Department of Housing and Communal Services and the Roads Department have taken notice of this: the contractor has already dismantled the area where the subsidence occurred, tamped everything down and laid new asphalt. No budget funds were spent on poor-quality work. But sometimes this happens due to the peculiarities of our soil. All deficiencies will be corrected», added Oleksandr Sienkevych.

As a reminder, the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine has set the date for the start of the heating season — this year, Ukrainians will have heat in their homes from 1 November.

Vitalii Kim, the head of Mykolaiv Regional Administration, said that the start of the heating season in Mykolaiv is to be postponed and the heating will be launched later. This is explained as a cost-saving measure.

The head of the regional administration also said that Mykolaiv would not be able to complete the project to build block-modular boiler houses, for which the government has allocated 1.1 billion hryvnias, before the start of the heating season.

In June, the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine allocated 1.1 billion hryvnias to prepare Mykolaiv for the next heating season. The city plans to install new boiler houses to replace the damaged CHP plant. This includes the purchase of 18 modular boiler houses with a total capacity of over 70 megawatts. According to the Prime Minister, this will ensure heat in the homes of the townspeople during the coming winter.

As of 4 September, it became known that «Mykolaivoblteploenergo» will receive 15 cogeneration units with a total capacity of 27.5 MW as part of a World Bank project. In total, the World Bank will provide $116 million to restore heating systems and maintain energy resilience in seven cities whose critical infrastructure was damaged by Russian attacks.