Mykolaiv mayor on the case of the waste sorting line: «This is an artificially created conflict»

A landfill in Mykolaiv, archive photo by NikVesti.

The mayor of Mykolaiv, Oleksandr Sienkevych, has revealed the outcome of recent searches of the city council and the department of housing and communal services conducted by law enforcement officers as part of the case of the construction of a waste sorting line.

This opinion was expressed by Mayor Oleksandr Sienkevych in an interview with hromadske.

The investigative actions concerned the construction of a waste sorting line, which was the subject of information about possible misuse of more than a billion hryvnias.

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«Law enforcement agencies registered this issue in the URPI and seized some documents from us — draft decisions. There was nothing else in the city council. They also searched the housing and communal services department, seized equipment and original documents related to the tender. That's all. So far, no one has been summoned», the mayor said.

According to Oleksandr Sienkevych, the situation is artificial and has been exaggerated.

«This is an artificially created conflict. Anonymous Telegram channels and some media wrote that someone in Mykolaiv wants to steal 1.5 billion hryvnias. We thought about going to court, but decided not to waste time on it. During the next competition, we will see who was really interested in this», he said.

The mayor explained that the tender for the construction of the sorting line did not involve any costs from the city budget or the allocation of a land plot.

«The idea was for a third-party organisation to take household waste, bring it to its territory, sort it at its own expense, and charge the citizens for it in the form of an additional fee of 7 hryvnias and 80 kopiykas per cubic metre. And people were brainwashed by simply multiplying the amount of waste by this amount and by the 25 years of the contract, resulting in a figure of more than a billion. This is not true», stressed Oleksandr Sienkevych.

He also added that the introduction of household waste sorting is not only a city initiative, but also a legal requirement that Mykolaiv has not yet fulfilled.

It is worth noting that the Department of Housing and Communal Services has prepared a new version of the tender terms and conditions, according to which the city will select a company for waste sorting. If the Antimonopoly Committee approves the document, it is expected to be submitted to the city council in December.

Situation with the construction of a sorting line in Mykolaiv

The issue of waste sorting in Mykolaiv was raised back in 2019, when the need for two lines was estimated at around 10 million hryvnias. At the time, Mayor Oleksandr Sienkevych insisted that the costs should be borne by investors, not the city budget. Although a waste management programme was adopted, it was never implemented.

The Supreme Court ruled that the city council's inaction was unlawful and ordered the construction of a sorting line, as the landfill, which had been operating since 1972, had exhausted its resources.

In 2024, the deputies approved the procedure for the operation of the solid waste sorting facility and announced an investment tender. The first failed, and the second was won by «Waste To Energy Niko». However, the company received only the minimum required score, and the deputies and the head of the RMA Vitalii Kim criticised the closed procedure and unfavourable conditions.

Law enforcement officers opened proceedings and searched the city council. At the session on 28 August, the deputies did not support the approval of the contract with the winner. The city authorities are preparing new tender conditions. Sienkiewicz said the process would be public, involving international partners, including Denmark.

See also the NikVesti article: «How Mykolaiv wants to start sorting waste».