Three billion overpayment: how the scandalous Yuriy Holyk overestimated the cost of building a water pipeline to Kryvyi Rih

The construction of the water pipeline to Kryvyi Rih, initiated after the explosion of the Kakhovka hydroelectric power station, was overgrown with large-scale financial irregularities. The company “Avtomagistral-Pivden” overestimated the cost of the project by more than 3 billion hryvnias, implementing the work under the supervision of the former advisor to the head of the Dnipropetrovsk Regional State Administration, Yuriy Golyk.

This is stated in the material of “RBK-Ukraine” .

Investigators found that the contract for the construction of the Ingulets-Southern Reservoir water pipeline was concluded without open tenders – under the “emergency” procedure. Its total cost was 7.7 billion hryvnias.

The main overestimations are related to the construction of infrastructure not provided for in the original project, in particular:

• UAH 287 million was overpaid for the construction of the third pumping station, which, according to experts, was not necessary – the first two provided full system performance.
• UAH 1.8 billion – due to the laying of four pipelines of different diameters instead of the planned two, which not only cost more but also created technical risks.
• UAH 273 million – for transporting sand from a quarry located 264 km away instead of the maximum permitted 80 km.
• Another 94 million UAH is an overpayment for the delivery of slag.

In addition, the investigation established that the participants in the scheme legalized goods and material values worth UAH 187 million and underpaid VAT by another UAH 20.5 million.

Based on the facts of the revealed abuses, the Main Investigation Department of the National Police initiated criminal proceedings No. 12024000000000774 on the grounds of abuse of power or official position (Part 2 of Article 364 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine) as part of a group of persons (Part 3 of Article 28).

One of the key figures named is Yuriy Holyk, known as the public coordinator of “Great Construction.” He was previously mentioned in the case regarding the disclosure of data from the NABU pre-trial investigation.

As is known, the water pipeline project was implemented in 2022–2023, when the destruction of the Kakhovka hydroelectric power station left Kryvyi Rih without a stable water supply. The work was carried out by the “Service for the Restoration and Development of Infrastructure in the Dnipropetrovsk Region”, and the contract was awarded without a tender to the Odesa company “Automagistral-Pivden”, owned by businessman Oleksandr Boyko.

Despite the strategic importance of the water pipeline, journalists point to numerous facts of possible misuse of taxpayer funds, which requires an impartial and transparent investigation.

Recall that in August 2024, journalists conducted an investigation into the winners of the tender for the construction of the National War Memorial Cemetery for UAH 1.75 billion in the Kyiv region. It turned out that the scandalous curator of “Great Construction” Yuriy Holyk and the former head of the Brovary District State Administration Georgy Birkadze were involved in this.

Earlier, in October 2023, it was reported that the coordinator of the “Great Construction” Yuriy Golyk, despite the scandals with road contracts, continues to regularly go to the President’s Office on Bankova Street. This was reported by journalists of the Bihus.Info project.

According to the publication “Dzerkalo Tyzhnia”, Yuriy Holyk continues to keep his office on the third floor of Bankova Street. The journalists also recalled that NABU detectives are investigating how a private company received a record amount of 1.5 billion hryvnias for roads in the Dnipropetrovsk region. In December last year, NABU detectives searched the former head of the regional military administration Reznichenko, as well as Holyk himself, who in 2020 became the coordinator of the “Great Construction” program initiated by the president.

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