By KYIV. Jan 29 (Interfax-Ukraine) – Construction of 25,000 square meters of new housing will begin this spring in Ivano-Frankivsk, Khmelnytsky, Novovolynsk and Ternopil for a total of EUR 35.5 million for 1,800 IDPs, Yulia Shevchuk, chief investment advisor of the Nordic Environment Finance Corporation (NEFCO), told Interfax-Ukraine.
The new housing will be built within the framework of the EU program Housing for internally displaced persons (IDPs) and the reconstruction of liberated cities in Ukraine, component II, which is funded by the European Union and managed by the Nordic Environment Finance Corporation (NEFCO).
The European Union initiated a program to support IDPs in the form of grant funding for the construction of new ecological housing in response to the fact that during the war more than 6.35 million Ukrainians fled the country and a third of the population was forced to leave their homes.
“During 2023, projects were identified and agreed upon, as well as an assessment of project proposals to determine the scope of work, and the first stage of procurement was carried out,” Shevchuk said, adding that the reconstruction of a medical facility in Nemishayeve, Kyiv region, is also scheduled to begin in the spring.
The program is divided into two components and in total covers 11 communities in western and central Ukraine. Both components work with different cities, involve the renovation and reconstruction of existing municipal buildings and the construction of new housing.
Component II included the cities of Ivano-Frankivsk, Khmelnytsky, Novovolynsk, Ternopil and Nemishayeve. Housing with a total area of almost 25,000 square meters will be built in the first four cities. Planned investments: in Novovolynsk – EUR 7.1 million, Khmelnytsky – EUR 8.4 million, Ivano-Frankivsk and Ternopil – EUR 9.5 million each.
Tasks for the selection and registration of land plots in accordance with the legislation of Ukraine, as well as the organization of connection to utility networks, are assigned to local communities. As NEFCO reported, as of the end of 2023, all cities had coped with this task, and land plots are now being prepared for construction work.
To develop a unified housing concept and design estimates for these four cities, following a tender held in the summer of 2023, a consortium of companies ARS Longa and Balbek Bureau from Kyiv was involved.
Construction involves an integrated approach, including renovations in common areas and apartments, including equipping apartments with the necessary furniture, household appliances and bed linen.
In addition to the social component, the program also contains a green restoration component, which provides for the use of energy-efficient technologies and increased requirements for energy consumption during operation by at least 10% of the regulatory threshold established by current Ukrainian standards for this type of building.
At the same time, approximately 12% of apartments in each city will be inclusive, that is, they will take into account the needs of people with disabilities. The doors will be widened, the bathrooms will be equipped with special handrails, and the entrance will have a ramp or lift, which was planned already at the design stage.
In addition, all buildings will have modern and equipped bomb shelters.
