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Automatically translated version. May contain inaccuracies compared to the original.
Journalists learned the details of one of the criminal proceedings concerning the construction of water mains during the war. The police used a rather original expert assessment against Avtomagistral-Pivden. The company explains that these are not excess capacities but a reserve necessary for better operation of the water main.
In 2023, the Service for Restoration and Infrastructure Development in Dnipropetrovsk region signed three contracts without bidding to build trunk water mains to eliminate the consequences of the Kakhovka HPP’s destruction by the Russians. The total cost of the work was 12,62 billion UAH.
The first water main — from the Inhulets River to the Pivdenne Reservoir to supply Kryvyi Rih with water — was assigned to be built by Avtomagistral-Pivden for 5,32 billion UAH. The third, Manganets–Nikopol–Pokrov, was assigned to Rostdorstroy for 2,00 billion UAH. In addition to the water mains themselves, the client provided for various structures such as water intakes and pumping stations.
Purchases were made on a design-and-build basis. Contractors were awarded contracts to both develop design documentation and carry out construction and installation works. This approach creates a risk for the client: the company designs the facility it will later build and may have an incentive to include larger volumes of work or more expensive materials in the design. Therefore, independent and thorough control by the client over design decisions, volumes, and costs of work is especially important.
Criminal proceeding
According to Nashy Hroshi, the National Police are investigating the construction of the water main in Dnipropetrovsk region as part of criminal proceeding ¹ 42022142240000051.
As part of the pre-trial investigation they are checking for possible abuses during the construction of the water main from the Inhulets River to the Pivdenne Reservoir.
According to the investigation’s version, Avtomagistral-Pivden may have acted in collusion with officials of B-Akt Spilka Aktsiyna’s representative office in Ukraine (engineer-consultant), LLC NVO Transinzhyniring (project developer) and LLC Expert Proekt Hrup (project expertise) during the development, compilation and approval of the design and estimate documentation.
The investigation believes that inflated volumes of work were built into the documentation. In particular, they planned the construction of Pumping Station ¹3 (PS-3), the necessity of which is questioned, and laying four pipeline branches with a diameter of 1 000-1 200 mm instead of two branches with a diameter of 1 300 mm. According to the investigation’s estimate, such decisions could have caused the state 2,8 billion UAH in losses.
The order on the distribution of duties between the Chair, the first deputy chair and the deputy chairs states that the first deputy chair of the Recovery Agency (at that time Andriy Ivko) organizes and controls work, including ensuring the development, expertise and approval of design-and-estimate documentation in the prescribed manner; conducting market monitoring of road-building materials, construction machinery and mechanisms.
Damage assessment made according to an original scheme
National Police investigators commissioned an alternative water-main construction project from DRPI SE Ukrpivdendniprovodgosp. They also received a specialist’s report from DI UkrNDIvodokanalproekt stating the impracticality of building PS-3 and laying two extra pipeline branches.
The project actually implemented by LLC NVO Transinzhyniring provided for laying four parallel pipeline strings with a diameter of 1 000-1 200 mm. Its cost was 4,47 billion UAH.
The alternative project by DRPI Ukrpivdendniprovodgosp envisaged laying two pipeline strings with a diameter of 1 300 mm. Its cost was estimated at 2,13 billion UAH. In other words, half as many pipes of slightly larger diameter made it possible to save on digging narrower trenches.
The difference between the cost of the two options is more than 2,34 billion UAH.
Another 0,44 billion UAH was the cost of constructing PS-3. These components together form the amount of about 2,8 billion UAH that experts identified as damage to the state.
According to the KNDISE experts’ conclusion, the total cost of constructing the water main under the contracts with Avtomagistral-Pivden ¹ B-V-1 dated 19.07.2023 and ¹ B-V-1/1 dated 30.04.2024 is 7,12 billion UAH.
Unconnected pumps
During a field inspection of PS-3, KNDISE experts found that DHV.700-590 PA pump units were not connected for operation, and the gate valve sluice DN 1000 PN16 EPDM were sealed. At the same time, the station was built according to the design documentation: it consists of a technological part (machine hall) and a semi-buried administrative and household part, and the installed equipment corresponds to the project in list, quantity and location.
According to the acceptance certificates for completed works, construction of PS-3 cost 442,20 million UAH.
Chief specialist Ihor Hreban, who provided a report with an analysis of the design documentation and hydraulic calculations, concluded that the capacity and head of the pump units at the first (PS-1) and second (PS-2) lift stations are sufficient to provide the design capacity of the entire water main.
Hydraulic calculations by specialists of the institute Ukrpivdendniprovodgosp showed that PS-1 and PS-2 can supply water both in normal mode and in emergency situations. At the location of PS-3, in their opinion, it was sufficient to arrange a switching chamber. Therefore, the specialists considered construction of PS-3 impractical.
In his report, Ihor Hreban also noted that laying four pipeline branches with a diameter of 1 000-1 200 mm requires larger volumes of construction and installation work than laying two branches with a diameter of 1 300 mm. Specialists from Ukrpivdendniprovodgosp concluded that constructing four parallel pipelines of different diameters is impractical.
Historical note on the necessity of the water main
Construction began immediately after the Kakhovka HPP explosion in 2023. Within seven months they completed design work, delivered materials and assembled pipelines. At the same time, difficulties arose in supplying pipes: Ukrainian manufacturers could cover only a quarter of the demand, so suppliers included, among others, Romania and Poland. There were also delays in supplying pumps, the production of which could take from one to one and a half years.
Then Recovery Agency Chair Mustafa Nayyem reassured that project financing was confirmed and that it had passed all necessary examinations, including a technical audit by an independent foreign company. Separately, he said, the project was checked by the Accounting Chamber. Construction was financed from a special Fund for the elimination of the consequences of the Russian Federation’s armed aggression.
In July 2023, then Deputy Prime Minister for Recovery Oleksandr Kubrakov visited Dnipropetrovsk region and inspected preparatory work for the construction of trunk water mains intended to supply potable water to the regions affected by the Kakhovka HPP explosion.
“Construction of trunk water mains is the most important recovery project right now. They will literally be laid from scratch. International partners are involved in procuring and logistics of pipes of the required diameter, as well as high-power pumps. We set ourselves an ambitious goal — to complete the work as soon as possible,” Kubrakov said.
After the publication, Avtomagistral-Pivden informed Nashy Hroshi of its position in this matter:
At first glance, laying two large pipes seems like a simpler and cheaper solution. However, analysis shows that this option is risky and economically unprofitable.
That is why the project “New construction of trunk water mains Inhulets River – Pivdenne Reservoir to provide Kryvyi Rih with water” received a positive evaluation in the comprehensive technical and economic review commissioned by the State Agency for Restoration and the USAID ERA Project.
We note separately that the so-called “alternative project” for the construction of the facility referenced in the article — namely the materials developed by DRPVI UKRPIVDENDNIPROVODGOSP at the request of the pre-trial investigation body, as well as the specialist report from DI UkrNDIvodokanalproekt — are not design documentation as understood under current Ukrainian law.
Yurii Nikolov, Hanna Kysliakova, Nashy Hroshi
Document: PDF proof of the original version of the news item "Водопровід для Кривого Рогу вартістю 5,32 мільярда гривень: правоохоронці зафіксували ймовірне завищення обсягів робіт на 2,8 мільярда". It records the publication content at the moment of the first scan, the preservation date and the source: Rozsliduvach.
