The Kyiv municipal council has decided to terminate the agreements under which it leased two land plots to the Mars-1 company, which is part of the Elite Center group of construction companies, for completing construction of housing for its investors, who later became victims of the Elite Center apartment fraud.
The municipal council made the relevant decisions at a session on Thursday.
The municipal council instructed the Kyiv municipal administration’s main department of land resources to cancel the registration of the agreements on lease of the two land plots (the agreements were concluded between the Kyiv municipal council and the Mars-1 company) because of the expiration of the lease agreements and the failure to use the land for construction of housing.
Specifically, the municipal council instructed the department to cancel the registration of the agreement under which 0.4 hectares of land located at 7b, Kurnatovskoho Street, in the Dniprovskyi district of kyiv, was leased to the Mars-1 company for five years in October 2003 for construction of a residential building.
The municipal council also instructed the department to cancel the registration of the agreement under which 0.6 hectares of land located at 15b, Petra Zaporizhtsa Street, in the Dniprovskyi district of kyiv, was leased to the Mars-1 company for five years in October 2003 for construction of a residential building.
According to the Kyiv municipal administration’s acting first deputy head Volodymyr Holovach, the Kyiv municipal council’s decision to lease these land plots to the Mars-1 company was cancelled by the council in November 2007 at the demand of the kyiv prosecutor’s office.
However, the municipal council ‘s decision to cancel the lease of the land plots was later cancelled by courts, which ruled that residential buildings could be constructed on the land plots.
As a result, the Kyiv municipal council decided to use the land plots on Kurnatovskoho Street and Petra Zaporizhtsa Street to provide housing to Elite Center’s defrauded investors.
The municipal council also instructed the municipal administration to organized (based on agreement with the defrauded investors that financed the construction of the residential buildings on these land plots) competitions for investment in construction work on the land plots with the aim of providing housing to the defrauded investors.
Moreover, the municipal council planned to cancel the registration of the agreement under which 1.38 hectares of land located at 7b, Heroiv Stalinhrada Street, in the Obolonskyi district of Kyiv was leased to the ABF company for 10 years in April 2004 for construction of a residential and office complex.
However, the relevant draft resolution was removed from the agenda of the municipal council’s session.
Holovach said that residents of the buildings adjacent to this land plot categorically opposed construction on the land plot.
Therefore, the municipal administration plans to hold additional talks with the residents of these buildings. If it fails to reach agreement with them, the complex will be built on an alternative land plot.
As Ukrainian News earlier reported, the Kyiv municipal council decided in June to use six land plots leased by the Elite Center group of construction companies for construction of housing for victims of the Elite Center apartment fraud.
The six land plots are located at 34-42, Otto Schmidt Street; 7b, Heroiv Stalinhrada Avenue; 17v, Maiakovskoho Avenue; 7b, Kurnatovskoho Street; 15v, Zaporizhtsa Street, and 18a, Budyvelnikiv Street.
In November 2007, the Kyiv municipal council canceled its decision to lease the 0.4 hectares of land at 7b, Kurnatovskoho Street, and the decision to lease the 0.6 hectares of land at 15b, Petra Zaporizhtsa Street, to the Mars-1 company following a protest from the Kyiv prosecutor’s office.
About 1,500 people were victims of the Elite Center apartment fraud, which was uncovered in 2006.
