Bucha’s central street has been dug up for almost a year. The reconstruction of Enerhetykiv Street under the “Movement Without Barriers” project was meant to turn it into the city’s first fully accessible route, but the main contractor stopped work in the summer. At the city council session on 24 September, mayor Anatolii Fedoruk explained why the city is not replacing the contractor and what happens next.
The state of the works was reported by Bucha city council; the tender and contract terms come from the procurement record and the contract record in Prozorro.
What was supposed to happen
“Movement Without Barriers” is a project of the Ministry for Communities and Territories Development under First Lady Olena Zelenska’s “Barrier-Free” initiative. It covers 15 pilot communities: Kyiv, Odesa, Dnipro, Zhytomyr, Ternopil, Lviv, Rivne, Chernivtsi, Poltava, Vinnytsia, Slavutych, Kropyvnytskyi, Bucha and the settlements of Opishnia and Borodianka.
According to the ministry, the Bucha route is 3.6 km long: Enerhetykiv Street (0.93 km), Polova (0.8 km), Bohdan Khmelnytskyi Boulevard (0.5 km) and Nove Shose from the NOVUS shopping centre to the Grand Bourget mall (1.4 km). Enerhetykiv is the first stage.
The street was chosen as the pilot for a reason: it concentrates social facilities, state institutions, pharmacies, shops and offices. In August 2025 the designers presented the final plan with the then head of the Kyiv regional military administration, Mykola Kalashnyk, and Anatolii Fedoruk; before that the route had been surveyed together with war veteran Oleksii Tiunin, and the design was adjusted for people with reduced mobility. The project’s ambassador Vitalii Pcholkin went through the design decisions from the point of view of a wheelchair user.
Photo: Bucha city councilWhat it costs
The tender was announced on 11 October 2025 with an expected value of UAH 212,244,534 from the local budget. Five companies took part in the auction on 29 October. It was won by Avtomahistral-Zakhid from Chernivtsi region, which brought its price down from UAH 182.3 million to UAH 169,328,169.
Second place went to NIDCOM, whose final offer was UAH 169,328,169.98. On a contract worth more than two hundred million, first and second place were separated by 98 kopiykas.
Contract No. 416 was signed on 20 November 2025. After amendments its value stands at UAH 169,160,794.22, running until 31 December 2026. Payment terms: an advance of up to 30% and 70% on completion, deferred by up to 100 calendar days. At the end of December 2025 the city signed a second contract with the same company for UAH 49,245,325.83 covering the corrected design, with a deadline of 30 June 2026. Together the two contracts come to UAH 218.4 million.
What has been done
The first stage was replacing all the utility networks. Under the council’s plan it was to be finished by the end of the 2025 calendar year: a renewed sewer collector, a new water main for the city centre, upgraded power supply and a modern storm drainage system so that water no longer pools on the roadway.
Anatolii FedorukMayor of Bucha, November 2025The most important thing is that this project will create an environment accessible to everyone. Bucha will be comfortable and convenient for every group of residents. The project has started. The schedules and deadlines are set. The works will run for four to five months according to the calendar plan.
In September 2026 the mayor recalled that the utilities — water, sewerage and storm water — had already been relaid, and apologised for the inconvenience caused by closing the central street.
Why the work stopped
In the summer of 2026 the main contractor suspended the works. The council puts the reason carefully: economic and staffing difficulties at the company itself. The money for the project is there and the council provided the documentation — the stoppage happened on the contractor’s side.
Photo: Bucha city councilWhy the city is not replacing the contractor
This is the question the mayor went through in most detail. A contract concluded through Prozorro can only be terminated in two ways — by agreement of the parties or through the courts. Avtomahistral-Zakhid categorically refuses to terminate by agreement, insisting it will deliver. Going to court, with the current workload of the judiciary, could not realistically be completed this year.
Even if the contract were terminated amicably, the city would not start the next day. It would first have to record and audit the work already done, adjust the design and announce a new procedure — at least 45 working days, and only if the tender succeeds first time. The mayor also named two risks of a new tender: the price could fall to an abnormally low level, after which the works would certainly stop, and a contractor who lost the contract in court could block the procedure itself.
What the council is doing
The council is pursuing formal claims against the company so that it understands the consequences of non-performance. On 23 September a working meeting took place at which, the mayor said, it was confirmed that the contractor had made advance payments for materials — for the electrical part and the water main in particular. That is a sign that movement towards resuming work exists. At the same time the pace the city sees today satisfies neither the council nor the community. The contractor promises to make up the lost time and complete the bulk of the works by the end of this year.
What the delay drags with it
The standstill on Enerhetykiv also pushes back adjacent plans. Design and construction under the HOPE programme with the World Bank are slipping in the calendar as well, because the works are inseparably linked: the city planned to renew its central district step by step, one site after another, over several years.
What comes next
The contract runs until 31 December 2026, and that is the date the contractor is working to. Planting along the route is scheduled for late autumn — the city and the contractor have already been choosing the stock at a garden centre. Earlier we wrote about the mayor travelling to Seoul to negotiate projects for Bucha’s water utility.
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