Sienkevych advocates modernisation of new sewage treatment facilities with a European loan under Ukraine's guarantee

Mykolaiv Mayor Oleksandr Sienkevych, photo by NikVesti

The mayor of Mykolaiv, Oleksandr Sienkevych, supports the modernisation of new water treatment facilities with a loan from the European Investment Bank, but believes that the state should pay for it.

The mayor voiced this opinion in a comment to the correspondent of NikVesti.

As you know, initially, Mykolaiv planned to take out an EIB loan for the construction of new water treatment plants, with Denmark providing another part as a grant. The project was supposed to take several years to complete and help provide the city with water of European standards.

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But later, Serhii Sukhomlyn, head of the State Agency for Reconstruction, said that this idea was abandoned. And it was decided to build new water treatment plants at public expense — the money saved during the construction of a new water supply system for the city.

Where did the idea to modernise the new treatment plant for Mykolaiv come from?

The mayor reminded that the French company Egis had been studying the issue of returning quality water to Mykolaiv. Based on the results of the study, the experts identified two needs, he added. The first is to build a new water supply system for Mykolaiv to replace the one destroyed by the Russians in Dnipro.

«The company spent a year researching five different possible water intake points, developed a feasibility study and chose the most efficient one among the five points — on the Southern Bug River. These studies formed the basis for the construction of a new water pipeline, which is now in operation and transmits water from the Pivdennyi Buh River to the city of Mykolaiv,» explained Sienkevych.

The second need identified by Egis was to build new wastewater treatment plants.

«The task set by the President of Ukraine was not to build a water supply system, but to return drinking water to the city of Mykolaiv. In the process of building the water supply system, everyone realised that it was necessary to modernise the treatment facilities. Egis's feasibility study included the construction of the water supply system as well as new treatment facilities. Egis proposed technical solutions and passed them on to us. We continued this work with the European Investment Bank and began to estimate how much it could cost,» said Oleksandr Sienkevych.

The mayor added that after completing the construction of a new water supply system for Mykolaiv at the expense of the state, the State Agency for Reconstruction decided to build a new water filtration plant.

New water treatment plant for Mykolaiv, photo: contractor Avtosrada

This will make it possible to make water drinkable even from salty alternative sources

However, according to Oleksandr Sienkevych, Mykolaiv is not refusing to accept the loan from the European Investment Bank and plans to spend it on upgrading the new treatment plant, which will allow it to purify water to drinking levels even from the Inhulets River, which is an alternative source for the city.

«We keep saying that the water treatment system in Mykolaiv needs to be modernised. And the new water supply system does not allow us to supply water from alternative sources. That is, if a pipe is destroyed or there are any emissions into the Southern Bug River, there is no alternative source again. That is why the Inhulets River, which is salty, remains our source.

The treatment plants that are being built by the Restoration Agency today will not be able to purify the water from salt. In other words, they will not be able to bring Inhulets or any other water to the level of drinking water. That's why Egis has envisaged the construction of new pressure-type treatment plants with membranes and so on,» explained Oleksandr Senkevich.

He said that the city authorities continue to cooperate with the European Investment Bank to purify water for Mykolaiv to the drinking level, in particular from alternative saline sources.

«Today we are continuing to work with the EIB in order to change the technology and the feasibility study that was done by Egis after the construction of these treatment facilities, which are currently under construction. In other words, we are currently working to determine the cost of completing these facilities so that they can treat water from the Southern Bug, Inhulets, and Southern Bug, for example, near the city of Mykolaiv. We are now waiting for the technical documentation for the treatment plants that are currently under construction,» says the mayor.

New wastewater treatment plant for Mykolaiv, photo: contractor Avtostrada

Mayor believes that the EIB loan should be paid by the state from Russian assets

Oleksandr Sienkevych also believes that the state should assume the obligations under the EIB loan.

«Mykolaiv today, with our level of income, with the level of expenditures, with the loans that we already have, cannot take on additional ones. Therefore, we turned to the state to provide us with financing for this project with public funds. That is, the EIB should issue a loan not to the city of Mykolaiv, but to the state.

What happened on the Dnipro River — the explosion of this station and so on — is not the fault of Mykolaiv residents. We are the victims in this case, we are the victims of what Russia has destroyed. And so it would be unfair to put this misfortune on the shoulders of the people of Mykolaiv. If the state can receive this money as a payment of the frozen assets of the Russian Federation and compensate itself in the future through the Ministry of Finance for this loan, I think it will be fair,» the mayor explained his position.

New sewage treatment plant for Mykolaiv, photo: contractor Avtostrada

Denmark may provide part of the funds as a grant

He also added that Denmark is planning to provide part of the funds as a grant.

«In addition, we have had preliminary talks with the office of the Danish Embassy, and in its three-year strategic plan for cooperation with Mykolaiv, Denmark has already allocated grant funds to support this project. That is, there is EIB loan money, plus Danish grant funds,» said Oleksandr Sienkevych.

What will the tariff be?

According to him, after the launch of drinking water in Mykolaiv, the tariff will increase. However, it is not yet known what it will be in the case of additional modernisation with EIB funds.

«This requires calculations. Today, the tariff for wastewater disposal is already increasing, because electricity has increased three times or more, and the minimum wage has increased. That is, the tariff is no longer critically appropriate. That is why we already see that when drinking water is available in Mykolaiv, the tariff will certainly increase,» said the mayor.

New sewage treatment plant for Mykolaiv, photo: contractor Avtostrada

Read also the article NikVesti «When will Mykolaiv get drinking water in the taps and how much will it cost?». The article says that the purified water is expected to be launched in January, but the water treatment plant will be fully operational in March 2026.

Water supply for Mykolaiv. A little history

More than three years have passed since Russian troops damaged the water supply system that supplied Mykolaiv with water. Since then, the city of almost half a million people has been without a centralised supply of quality water.

All this time, Mykolaiv residents have been receiving water from a backup source, which raises many questions about the quality of this water and the salt content in its composition. The salt water damaged 1,200 kilometres of the city's water supply network. Borys Dudenko, director of «Mykolaivvodokanal», said that it is impossible to replace the entire length of the network that was damaged by the salt water supply.

For a long time, representatives of state and local authorities have been looking for ways to restore drinking water supply in Mykolaiv. The final solution was found in 2024: a new water supply line would be laid from Nova Odesa, and the money was allocated from the state budget.

The regional recovery service even selected contractors who will work according to the principle of «design-build». They are three companies, each of which is responsible for one of the three work areas: «Ukrtransmist», «Rostdorstroi» and «Avtostrada». However, later both the client and the construction contractor were changed. The customer for the new water pipeline was the Service for Infrastructure Restoration and Development in Dnipropetrovsk region, and the contractor was the group of companies «Avtostrada».