The Sosnytska AH is located 90 km from Chernihiv. In 2017, 15 settlements decided to amalgamate. Today, the AH population amounts to 10,800 people.

Andrii Portnyi, head of the Sosnytska AH in the Chernihiv Oblast, shared the first steps in tourism development and importance of energy conservation within the project of UCMC-DOBRE “Speakers of Hromadas” project.

Andrii Portnyi has been heading the local council since 2015. In 2017, he won the election again – now as a candidate for a position of an AH head. Unlike some hromada heads, who are slowing down amalgamation process being afraid of losing their positions, Andrii Portnyi answers unequivocally:

“The post is not a goal. It's a tool that you can use to change or not change something - get paid and wait for the next election. I am a native of my city, I was born here and want to live here. In 2015, I wanted to bring change to the hromada. After all, I felt that for a long time we had a staff stagnancy and it led to the fact that the city was not developing, it was dying right in my eyes.”

Out of 26 seats in 2015, 16 were occupied by non-party deputies.

The private sector makes up almost 90% of the Sosnytska hromada. There are also 42 apartment buildings, 10 of which are combined into apartment building co-owners association.

 

“We did not play populism. We immediately explained to people that multi-apartment housing is their property. Take the same responsibility for it as people have for a private house.”

Launching hromada advertising campaign without due infrastructure is the road to nowhere

Sosnytsia is an ancient settlement, the first mention of which dates back to 1234. From 1803 to 1830, the redevelopment of the settlement continued. The peculiarity of Sosnytsia is the clear perpendicularity of its streets – all the streets intersect at right angles and at almost every intersection the edge of the city can bee seen, since it is quite compact.

Sosnytsia is the birthplace of Oleksandr Dovzhenko, classic of the world cinema. There is a museum-estate, visited annually by 28 thousand guests. Andrii Portnyi says that they have currently two challenges: it is necessary to give tourists the opportunity to dine and stay over nignt. They think of a movie-themed hotel and are looking for an investor.

The best motivation for energy conservation is high tariffs

In order to save resources in 2016, Sosnytsia introduced energy monitoring and energy management. The position of energy manager was created, and a special programme purchased to make cuts and graphs.

The importance and effectiveness of such monitoring was immediately evident.

Communal buildings are being insulated this year in the AH. Due to the State Fund for Regional Development, the first of 5 kindergartens will be insulated.

Sosnytsia joined the Covenant of Mayors initiative, which aims to save resources and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. They have also become members of the Association of Energy Efficient Cities of Ukraine, where they can adopt best practices in energy efficiency.

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