Will Klitschko divide and build up Ecopark?

«Clandestine agreements»: we risk losing Ecopark / Photo by D.Perov

The Christmas holidays brought another escalation in the confrontation between the community and the developer in the Osokorky Ecopark. Using the memorandum signed earlier with the city authorities, the developer managed to win a number of key court cases. So, while Kyiv residents were having a family holiday, the machinery was actively working in Ecopark.

What did they agree on?

The Memorandum of Understanding and Partnership was signed between the city authorities and the developers on April 7, 2021. Then, following lengthy negotiations, Mayor Vitaliy Klitschko agreed to complete the «problematic» facilities of the Arkada Bank, which had previously financed the development of lakes in Osokorky Ecopark. The Stolitsa Group Construction Corporation undertook to replace the bankrupt bank in the construction of a new housing estate, and the city authorities, represented by its mayor, promised to support the construction in every way possible. Arsen Avakov, the then head of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, became the guarantor of the agreements.

However, their impact on the life of the natural area began to be felt almost immediately. In the spring, there were several powerful rallies of deceived investors, who were for some reason protected from local residents by a special police. In the summer, despite numerous protests and road closures, construction equipment was brought to the park. In the autumn, the city authorities prepared a number of draft decisions on the formal transfer of certain parts of the natural area for construction.

The story of the informal resolution of problematic issues culminated on December 21, 2021. Then, the Supreme Court renewed the lease agreement for Ecopark’s land to the developer — Kontaktbudservice LLC, which has been considered bankrupt for several years. The company with a net debt to the city of more than 200 million UAH did not even have to convince anyone of its rightness — the Kyiv City Council simply «withdrew» its lawyers from the case…

In parallel with these processes, the hitherto unknown agricultural company Zodiac managed to register the right to use a land plot that was declared a local nature reserve, Osokorkivski Luki, by the same Kyiv City Council several years ago… According to the Nashi Hroshi publication, the company was until recently associated with businessman-developer Vasyl Khmelnytskyi.

«Anything for friends, the law for the rest!»

Another interesting feature of Kyiv’s first public agreements on mutual assistance between representatives of the developer, the city authorities and law enforcement agencies is the choice of the developer itself.

The Stolitsa Group Construction Corporation is linked by the media to local businesswoman Vlada Molchanova. The Internet contains rather limited information about the past of the owner of the construction business. However, if we talk about the present, her company can deservedly claim a market monopoly. Currently, Stolitsa Group has moved from building individual properties to designing complex multi-block developments.

All this, as you can see, is also actively supported by the city authorities. For example, the Warshavsky residential quarter was once designed on the land of a municipal agricultural enterprise that was engaged in growing vegetables and fruits. The city authorities then tried to return these lands to the community through the courts, but, as in the case of Ecopark, the Themis was not on the side of the city council lawyers….

It goes even further – last year, on the lands of the same agricultural enterprise, the city council voted to build a new residential area. The detailed plan of the Minsk massif then gathered a flurry of criticism, but in the end it was voted for by a majority of deputies.

No apartments? Reserve fund

Perhaps the most important intrigue of the agreements between the government and business on the completion of the Arcada housing was the question of «who would pay for the holiday?». Even when the memorandum on the completion was only being drafted, Mayor Vitaliy Klitschko was rather cautious on this matter: «The memorandum is just a road map…».

Later, Arsen Avakov renounced the possibility of purchasing apartments in the completed building for the employees of his security agency. Finally, the Stolitsa Group itself made it clear that no one was going to play charity. The company’s CEO, Eduard Sokolovskyi, explained that the completion of the «problematic housing» would be financed by the profits from the apartments that had been already sold. This is the creation of a so-called «reserve fund», when a certain accumulation system is used instead of direct investment in the construction of a facility.

Osokorkivski Luki landscape reserve / Photo by Dmytro Petrov

Earlier, the Stolitsa Group mentioned a figure of 10% of the profit received from the sale of housing built on the lakes. That is, if we imagine that all the apartments built by the new developer will be of the same type with a more or less similar configuration, then in order to settle one house, investors will have to build at least 10 new ones. All this will require the allocation of additional land plots, and as a result, the company that reports on plans to develop the natural area around the development runs the risk of absorbing it completely.

Dmytro Perov , founder of the Public Organization “Green Minute”