Billions "for later": how Shkil, Labaziuk and developer Dolinsky received 3,7 billion for Khmelnytskyi region roads

The largest tenders of the week were contracts for routine maintenance of roads in Khmelnytskyi region. The local Recovery Service divided the state highways into three lots, and three different companies won them – Avtostrada for 1,66 billion UAH, Dorozhni Mashyny for 1,16 billion UAH, and Budinterkomplekt for 0,89 billion UAH.

The firms offered different rates for various types of work.

For the two heaviest items in the estimates related to asphalt paving of specific sections, the lowest rates were offered by Dorozhni Mashyny, owned by Serhiy Labaziuk (who is under suspicion by NABU over bribes in the Ukravtodor system connected with the company Khmelnytske SHBU-56), and by Avtostrada, owned by Maksym Shkil. These companies won the contracts, competing against each other in the tenders.

The most expensive rates were quoted by Budinterkomplekt, which belongs to local developer Mykola Dolinsky. In the tender for this firm there was no competition.

The contracts are calculated for two years through the summer of 2028. However, for this year they effectively have no funding for road maintenance – only 100 thousand hryvnias is planned, which is less than 0,01% of the total cost of the contracts. The rest of the funding is deferred to future years on the assumption that the state budget will allocate the corresponding funds then. At present there is no money in the state budget. According to President Volodymyr Zelensky, the deficit in the defense budget now amounts to 1,2 trillion hryvnias.

Yuriy Nikolov, "Our Money"