There are alternative ways of laying the heating pipeline in Teremky that would cause less damage to green spaces, but the Kyiv city authorities have decided to ignore them. All proposals from the Architects’ Union have been rejected, even though they are realistic.
This was reported by the ‘Golka’ civic initiative.
The Kyiv City State Administration, having temporarily backed down in the face of public outcry, agreed on 10 August to suspend the felling of trees in Teremky. At the time, the authorities stated that they were prepared to consider alternative projects.
In the space of three weeks, Maxim Myatko, an engineer from the National Union of Architects of Ukraine, drew up three options:
- laying of utility lines along Teremkivska Street;
- the construction of a heating pipeline along the parallel street — Glushkov Avenue;
- routing the line through the park area, whilst minimising the number of trees that need to be felled.
However, the city authorities rejected all the proposals. One of the reasons given was a lack of time to implement the project.
"Manipulation of terminology: claims about a 'lack of time' are a way of justifying a reluctance to seek consensus. If the works had started on time and experts had been brought in straight away, the city would have had both heating and a preserved park," noted "Holka".
They regard the systematic approach there as involving the consultation of experts from the Architects’ Association before work begins, rather than afterwards, in order to rectify glaring errors.
Separately, activists emphasise that Cabinet of Ministers Resolution No. 393 is being used as a pretext for disregarding public opinion and legitimate licensing procedures.
As a reminder, the tender for the preparation of project documentation for the construction of a backup heating pipeline by the municipal enterprise ‘Kyivteploenergo’ was commissioned back in 2023. At that time, the route along Teremkivska Street was selected. However, the Kyiv City State Administration now insists that this is technically impossible due to the presence of other utility networks in that area. Nevertheless, the authorities have not provided any documentary evidence or justification as to why the route was changed.
As reported by EcoPolitic, tree felling began in Teremky Park in early August. A total of 662 trees are scheduled to be felled. Local residents took to the streets in protest. The police even used force to prevent people from interfering with the felling of the trees.
In fact, Resolution No. 393, which the government had described as ‘experimental’, was put into practice in Kyiv. It made it possible to proceed with the construction of energy facilities without obtaining planning permission or a land allocation.
