Sienkevych on the privatization of communal property in Mykolaiv: «We will not sell properties with a good rent»

Mykolaiv City Mayor Oleksandr Sienkevych said that he is working with deputies on the possibility of selling communal property through auctions.

He said this on Tuesday, May 21, during a briefing, answering a question from a NikVesti correspondent.

Privatization is currently at the stage of discussions by deputy commissions, the mayor said.

«I am the mayor, during whose previous tenure not a single object of municipal property was privatized. I continue to stand by the fact that we should not sell everything. The objects for which we receive a good rent must be left in the ownership of the city. This is an important point, because some people rented these properties, improved them. Now the objects have become attractive, and before that they were unattractive. And here they expect that they will be able to privatize these objects. We already have examples when people refuse to rent objects because they have no opportunity to work there, and the payment must be made in a timely manner. In this sense, we have some refusals. But restrictions have already been lifted in the Mykolaiv region, in Mykolaiv. We are already working with deputies on the possibility of putting the issue to a vote. Of course, it will resonate. Everything must be sold by auction. Some objects will fundamentally increase in price,» said Oleksandr Sienkevych.

Moratorium on privatization of communal property

The mayor of Mykolaiv recalled how in 2016 he promised the decision of the city council to privatize 20 objects.

«You remember that once back in 2016, I promised a decision on privatization. At that time, this decision was prepared by the previous convocation of the city council, and the value of this property was minimal,» the mayor said.

He noted that now privatization issues will be resolved at auctions, and whoever offers the highest price will win.

«During this time, the legislation has already changed, in fact, auctions will already be open today. An interesting thing is that the person who rents it and invested money in it may turn out so that he does not win this property, but someone else wins, who buys it more expensively. This is also possible. These objects are for rent today. Actually, I see no point in privatizing those that are efficient and bring a normal rent to the budget,» said Oleksandr Sienkevych.

Back in 2017, a memorandum was signed between the Mykolaiv City Council and the state enterprise «Setam» for public auctions for the sale of communal property.

In 2021, the process of leasing and selling communal property through the ProZorro public procurement system began in Mykolaiv. In June 2021, the vice-mayor of Mykolaiv Vitalii Lukov said that there are about 3.5 thousand real estate properties in Mykolaiv that belong to the community. About 1,200-1,300 of them can be leased. The rest of the city uses health care, education, accommodation of state institutions, etc. for its activities. According to the deputy mayor, such auctions helped increase the cost of renting premises tenfold.

At the same time, a draft decision on the privatization through auction of 117 communally owned objects, including utility rooms, buildings of former boiler houses, medical facilities, and basements, appeared on the website of the Mykolaiv City Council.