Uncompleted Construction Project on 2 Millions from the European Union: the Repair of Housing for IDPs Can Not Be Finished In Donbass

Dormitories for the internally displaced people, which in Kramatorsk, Donetsk region are overhauled by a European grant, will not be handed in on time - people with disabilities risk being left on the street.

Overhaul of three hostels at the expense of the European Union, allocated in 2014, started in Kramatorsk only at the beginning of this year, IA "Vchasno" reports.

The project implementation period of EUR 2 million was due to be completed on April 17, 2017. But the beginning of work for a long time was slowed down for various reasons. A year ago there was a restart of the project and this year reconstruction works began. Due to the "reboot" of the team and the lack of repair, the final date was postponed for another six months, which expires on September 17.

However, by this time, the renovation of hostels will not be completed, and those who planned to settle here in the fall may remain on the street.

What is being repaired for IDPs and invalids in Kramatorsk on EU money

Hostel on the Ural Street was built in 1947 without any technology because people urgently needed housing. When analyzing the structures in early January it became clear that the walls are not connected to the ceiling, they just stand on the floor. On this object, there are most of all work and adjustments.

Built in 1972, the hostel on the Nazarenko Street belonged to a previously cement-slate plant. In communal ownership, it was transferred and conserved in 2008. Works on this object are faster than the rest, already in the middle of summer, everything should be ready. The main problem is groundwater flooding, which is typical for this part of the city.

Hostel on the Rybinskaya Street earlier was the preventorium of the Starokramatorsk Machine-Building Plant, built in 1982. Here, repairs began later, in early April. The reason was the expectation of a conclusion from geologists about the crack of the building, it was necessary to find out whether it is possible to carry out any reconstruction at all.

Who can stay on the street because of an unrealized project

To date, the buildings and premises inside the hostels are still not ready to accommodate residents, and when the repair is completed, even the representatives of the EU project «Providing housing for the most vulnerable IDPs and residents of Kramatorsk, who were affected by the conflict» do not know.

It is too early to talk about the end of the work, and how much time it will take until it is not clear. The first with the problem of lack of housing for IDPs will face people with disabilities who were counting on settling into hostel rooms.

14 persons with disabilities who live in the Center for Professional Rehabilitation of the Disabled will have to move out from there since the term of their retraining has ended. Two more months you can live on the terms of complex social and psychological rehabilitation, and then you need to leave.

For three years since the start of hostilities in the territory of the Donetsk region, the city officials have not accepted the document according to which people with disabilities can live in the Rehabilitation Center, where all conditions for them have been created, including for money from UNDP.

«In the Donetsk region, this is the only building adapted for the living of people with disabilities, especially those who are forced to stay in a wheelchair, - Svetlana Fomina, director of the Donbass Center for Professional Rehabilitation of the Disabled, said. - In two months, the IDPs must leave the center, and they have nowhere to go».

From the 14 internally displaced persons, who in two months must leave the rehabilitation center, 8 - in wheelchairs. No multi-storey building is suitable for people living in rented apartments.

The question of the deportation of IDPs from the Center, on which the budget did not provide payment for utilities, was raised by the Fund for the Social Protection of Persons with Disabilities. In search of housing, people with disabilities went to see how the renovation of hostels is proceeding, especially where rooms for disabled people are planned to be built, and all applications for settling in time are handed over.

The condition that they saw in the hostels being repaired now has plunged them into a state of shock. When the repair is over, it wasn’t explained, it was said that it's for a long time.

Unfinished reconstruction of hostels for IDPs in Kramatorsk / Photo: Tatyana Bobrovskaya

«Yesterday in the streets of Kramatorsk (Nazarenko, Rybianskaya, Ural St.) my hope died ... hope for the future, hope for a roof over the head, faith in officials and their promises», Tatyana Bobrovskaya – IDP in the wheelchair shares her impressions.

The woman took photos of the long-term construction and posted them on the social network with a comment: «This is what the three hostels promised for the living of the IDP look like. People with disabilities who move on wheelchairs were especially hoped for them. As a result of the fighting, we were left without shelter, and now without any hope for it».

Tatyana Bobrovskaya also cites the fact that in Kramatorsk there is not a single house, architecturally accessible to wheelchair users.

«Our residence in the only accessible and specially equipped building of the Rehabilitation Center will end in a couple of months, as the officials refused to continue living there with a disability, - woman complains. - So in the winter, we'll stay on the street. Hostels for the living of IDP will not be completed this year».

Perspectives of long-term construction

As a result of the project, three of Kramatorsk's dormitories became a small-family-type apartments. There will be several two-room apartments, the rest one-room apartments with separate kitchen and bathroom. In each hostel, two apartments will be made suitable for people in wheelchairs. In the shared laundry washing machines will be accommodated. Rooms are equipped with furniture, refrigerator, and electric stove. In total, three hostels will accommodate 253 IDPs, priority will be given to families of the preferential category.

But when people can enter their homes, officials do not know.

«Until September 17, a project of reconstruction of three hostels is not possible to complete», - the public information specialist Larisa Schebrina commented. - Dates are being pulled back all the time, as the buildings are old and constantly new tails get out. It is necessary to change the technical assignments, this also takes time. Contractors have already hired subcontractors but still can not keep up to date. We will ask donors for an extension».

The customer of the project is Communal enterprise "Most", designer - Private Enterprise "Restro", Limited liability company - FBK "Luch".

Kramatorsk Donetsk region Dormitories IDPs