Andriy Vitrenko, the head of the Kyiv City Council's budget commission, has announced another corruption scheme related to financing the construction of the Podilskyi Bridge. According to him, the new allocation of UAH 1.18 billion from the city budget is not an investment in infrastructure, but another stage of "pumping funds into private hands.".
A deputy from the Servant of the People faction expressed his suspicions on social media, commenting on the recent decision to finance the final stage of the bridge's construction. Vitrenko stressed that the total construction costs have already exceeded UAH 20 billion and that this amount is growing not due to objective circumstances, but due to manipulations in the estimates.
As one example, the deputy cited the cost of construction sand: in the contract its price is 541 UAH per cubic meter, while on the market it fluctuates between 170–300 UAH. According to Vitrenko, the city overpaid more than 23 million UAH due to the inflated price of this one material alone.
The politician emphasizes that this practice has become systemic in Kyiv. Tenders are not based on market prices, but on so-called “average” prices, formed on the basis of a falsified price base created by the suppliers themselves. As a result, millions of hryvnias are being “legally but regularly” withdrawn from the budget.
The prosecutor's office is already trying to hinder this process. Back in December 2024, the Podilskyi District Prosecutor's Office filed a lawsuit with the Commercial Court regarding the general contractor contract between the Kyiv Road and Transport Construction Directorate and a private company that has been building the bridge since 2017. The prosecutor's office is demanding that the contract be declared invalid due to systemic violations.
In February 2025, work began on the construction of the second exit from the bridge towards Troyeshchyna, but the project is once again accompanied by scandals. While the bridge continues to be completed, billions of hryvnias are disappearing from the city budget.
