Over the two years of war, the Kyiv City State Administration has spent almost 24 million hryvnias on tourism and plans to spend another 1 million on souvenirs

24.11.2023

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The people of Kyiv continue to demand that the city authorities increase contributions to the needs of Ukraine’s military and defense as part of the «Money for the Armed Forces» campaign. Meanwhile, Kyiv City State Administration departments continue to discuss the capital budget, which, according to the Economic HUB: Sound PFM Policies and Vision for Growth project, remains in surplus even during the war. But for now, the Kyiv City Council and the Kyiv City State Administration are not ready to abandon various projects that the people of Kyiv consider unnecessary during the extension of martial law.

At the request of the «Active Citizens» agency, we received a budget project for 2024 from the Department of Tourism and Promotion of the executive body of the Kyiv City Council («Kyiv City State Administration»). It envisages spending of 14.357 million ukrainian hryvnias on tourism and promotion.

The sent documents, for example, indicate that the revenues for the implementation of the budget program for 2022-2024 have increased. It has increased tenfold (!) compared to 2022 – from 4.685 million Ukrainian hryvnias to 18.9 million this year and 14.357 million next year.

Moreover, the Department of Tourism and Promotion of the executive body of the Kyiv City Council (Kyiv City State Administration) is a fully subsidized structure that does not bring anything to the Kyiv budget on its own.

In 2024, the Department of Tourism and Promotion of the executive body of the
Kyiv City Council will spend budget funds on:

Promotion of Kyiv as a tourist center – for 2,488,774 UAH ($61 000);
Development of modern types of tourism – for 5,200,000 UAH ($130 000);
Improvement of tourist infrastructure – for 3,675,000 UAH ($90 000);
Improving the quality of tourist services. Digitalization of tourism – for 1,140,000 UAH ($28 000);
Exchange of experience and cooperation on the development of the tourism industry with international tourism organizations, other cities of Ukraine and the world – 1,854,000 UAH ($46 000);
Provision of excursion services to Kyiv citizens – Defenders of Ukraine, members of their families and Kyiv citizens – family members of deceased Defenders of Ukraine – decided not to allocate funds in 2024. This year, 1 million hryvnias was spent on this.

In 2024, they want to spend budget funds on the following previously approved programs:

Financial resources for international events – 1,588,774 UAH ($39 000);
Financial resources for the production of promotional printing and souvenir products – 900,000 UAH ($22 000);
The amount of financial resources for the provision of social services and information services on tourist opportunities in Kyiv for guests and citizens of the city – 5,200,000 UAH ($128 000);
The amount of financial resources for serviced tourist infrastructure facilities – 3,675,000 UAH ($90 500);
Average costs for the support of one tourist information center – 701,587.66 UAH ($17 300);
The amount of financial resources for comprehensive services for the content, modernization, promotion of the portal and mobile application – 600,000 UAH ($15 000);
The amount of financial resources for organization of events – 540,000 UAH ($13 300);
The amount of financial resources for organization of events – 1,700,000 UAH ($42 000).

It is planned to spend only 4,262 UAH out of 14,357 million UAH ($354 000) on employee salaries in the Tourism and Promotion Department in 2024.

It is also planned to spend the funds of the Kyiv community in the following areas:

landscaping – 2.69 billion ($66 273 314);
construction of a subway in the Vynohradar residential area – 328 million ($8 million);
construction of Podilskyi Bridge – 298 million ($7,3 million);
transportation interchange at Degtyarivska – 360 million ($8,9 million);
renewal of the “Natalka” park on Obolonska embankment – 25 million ($6,2 million);
reconstruction of “Orlyatko” park – 25 million ($6,2 million).

We would like to remind that since the beginning of the autumn, citizens of different cities have been trying to get local authorities to spend more money on the needs of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and the Armed Forces Territorial Defense Forces instead of projects that have nothing to do with resisting Russian aggression or protecting the civilians. Students, volunteers, and civic activists gather every Saturday in front of the Kyiv City State Administration/Kyiv City Council to demand that the money spent by Kyiv citizens be spent on the needs of
the army.

At the same time, nearly every day in the capital there are scandals around large-scale tenders that show the presence of a corruption component in such procurement. For example, law enforcement agencies are currently intensifying charges against the head of the Education Department of the Dniprovskyi District State Administration in Kyiv, who is already suspected of systematically withdrawing funds when purchasing equipment for schools and kindergartens in the district.

The same situation is observed in the Solomianskyi district of Kyiv, where the Department of Education of the Solomianskyi District State Administration in Kyiv conducts rather questionable procurement. For example, there were two tenders for the purchase of gymnastic equipment for… the arrangement of civil defense facilities (shelters) for 402 thousand UAH and 2,548,369.20 UAH.

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