Komarnytskyi and the subway: will Klychko’s comrade "heat up" on the repairs of the Kyiv subway?

Komarnytskyi and the subway: will Klychko’s comrade "heat up" on the repairs of the Kyiv subway?

The last few months have been very stressful for the mayor of Kyiv. Dehtyarivskyi Bridge got tired, the metro had to be closed due to safety issues, and there were even justifications to be made, as it turns out that the predecessors are to blame for the city’s municipal problems. A classic scenario that no one even laughs at anymore.

Nevertheless, infrastructure does not collapse on its own; it deteriorates due to negligence and improper maintenance. However, it is obvious that Vitali Klitschko has not managed to understand this over two terms in office, and he chooses to please friends with questionable reputations rather than work for the Kyivans who entrusted him with the city.

Denys Komarnytskyi. Photo Focus

In early December, Vitaliy Klychko announced the closure of six of the newest metro stations due to flooding and tunnel destruction. This came as a shock to Kyivans but did not surprise experts who had long been talking about the need for repairs. This is especially true for the section between the Lybidska and Demiyivska metro stations. The thing is, the Lybid River flows in this area, and the ground often subsides. Therefore, from the construction stage, there was a need to build the tunnel using a more complex technology that would prevent flooding. Of course, the construction took into account the landscape and probably future development. However, it is unlikely that the designers could have imagined how densely this area would be built up later, and moreover, it’s unlikely anyone could have predicted that two shopping centers would appear right above the Lybidska station.

After part of the metro was closed, news began to emerge that next summer an unpleasant surprise might await the residents of Obolon. According to the head of KP Kyiv Metropolitan Viktor Brahinskyi, in six months the closure of the Pochaina and Taras Shevchenko stations is planned. He noted that the repair of these stations will be faster than the one on Teremky (the currently closed metro stations are planned to be repaired over six months - Ed.). At the same time, Pochaina is a crucial city artery because many people travel from the suburbs and switch to the metro from trains. Thus, another collapse cannot be avoided.

Separately, in this context, it became known that the Kyiv Metropolitan also plans to check the reliability of the bridge that the metro runs on. It concerns the Syretsko-Pecherska line and the Southern Bridge. A tender for 710,000 hryvnias was announced for testing the load-bearing structures of the metro train overpass.

Interestingly, all this news appeared almost simultaneously. Never before in the entire existence of the Kyiv metro has it been closed. Likely, it was enough just to keep everything under control and take preventive measures to prevent disasters.

Has something so extraordinary happened now that it was necessary to leave Kyivans without the most convenient public transport? It has happened, and it is primarily related to tenders and those who really want to win these competitions.

It has been repeatedly written that KP Kyiv Metropolitan director Viktor Brahinskyi is closely associated with the former Kyiv City Council deputy from the Chernovetskyi Bloc - Denys Komarnytskyi. The very one who "milked" Kyiv for budget funds during the construction of the Podilskyi Bridge. Brahinskyi is often seen near the IQ business center, where Komarnytsky has an office.

According to certain data, Denys Komarnytskyi is now planning to join the tenders that the Kyiv Metropolitan has begun announcing.

In 2021, it was reported that a company within Komarnytskyi’s orbit had already won competitions related to checking the reliability and analysis of metro structures. Thus, the "Directorate for Road Transport Construction" of the Kyiv City State Administration ordered scientific and technical support for the construction of the metro from the Rusaniivski Dachi dam to the planned Radyuzhna station worth 24.33 million hryvnias from Forma LLC on July 30, 2021. The company should provide services until the end of 2023. It involves research, analysis, and monitoring of the reliability and durability of construction structures for the future station.

The founders of Forma LLC are former chief engineer of the Darnytsa track section of the South-Western Railway Oleh Sakhnik and Oleksandr Stepenko. Stepenko also owns Skybud Group LLC and previously owned Royal House Construction LLC.

According to MP Geo Leros, former Kyiv City Council member Denys Komarnytskyi works precisely through the companies Forma and Skybud Group.

The same company, Forma, was mentioned in an investigation regarding the embezzlement of budget funds on the reconstruction of the tram line from Hnata Yura Street to the Oxygen Plant JSC in Kyiv. Law enforcement found that in 2017-2019, the municipal enterprise Kyivpastrans ordered the reconstruction of 12 km of the tram line from Borshchahivka to Otradnyi for about 300 million UAH. The contractors were four companies: Energospetsremont LLC, KP Spetsavtomatika LLC, Ukraina-energoservice LTD LLC, and Forma LLC. According to the investigation, over 100 million UAH of the total amount might have been embezzled and appropriated.

In this reconstruction, Forma LLC had two contracts totaling almost 140 million UAH.

Currently, as the metropolitan has only started announcing tenders for various stations’ repairs, it is difficult to say through which companies Komarnytsky plans to work. However, there’s no doubt that he is interested in participating, as both experts and investigative journalists who have repeatedly caught the so-called "overseer" by the collar confirm.

Recently, at the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities with the participation of the President of Ukraine, it became clear that the mayor of Kyiv, Vitaliy Klychko, decided to ignore this event even online. Volodymyr Zelenskyy eloquently expressed: "It’s very unfortunate that the mayor is not here. We must do everything to ensure that there is a mayor in the capital." It seems like a stronger push is hard to expect. Unless the Kyivans themselves throw the mayor into the trash bin, as in the old good times of people’s lustration. Along with him and Komarnytskyi, who is ready to "heat" the city regardless of the war or any other circumstances.

Author: Olena Dobrodiy