Any corruption schemes that may accompany the construction process in populated areas – from land plotsє allotment to violation of the standards of house density and non-payment of taxes – make hromadas poor and, in fact, steal from people, who invest in construction and pay a high price for low-quality square metres, said Prime Minister of Ukraine Volodymyr Groysman during the Governmental meeting, where one of the topics was the initiative to build a transparent platform “Transparent State Architectural and Construction Inspection”. The launch of the platform enables real-time monitoring of developers’ document flow – from filing documents to obtaining licenses…

As the Head of Government noted, that such a service will enable a more transparent construction process.

“This week I’ve had a frank talk with mayors. We have very successful examples (of construction in cities), but there are problems as well. Large multi-storey buildings are being built, construction is dense with the land being transferred without auctions, which makes the hromada poorer. Share participation is paid either not in full, or not paid at all. And these are billions. This also makes our hromadas poorer,” said Volodymyr Groysman. “They design one thing, and then increase the number of floors, construction volume, corrupt officials and try to somehow agree on the launch of facilities into operation. The development of various shadow schemes begins. Who is suffering from this? An average citizen of Ukraine is. And we cannot and do not have the right to leave the whole city and hromadas in the hands of developers.”

The Head of Government stressed that Ukrainian cities are built not for the houses, but for the people, who need parks, squares, and parking spaces.

“We started changing construction standards. My committed stance is that construction standards must comply with the European standards. Currently, real estate in Ukraine costs not less than in Europe, but sometimes you look at building and realise that they have neither an aesthetic look nor a single condition of comfortable living. Although the person paid money for this,” the Prime Minister stressed.

Another problem is an attempt to evade payment of taxes on constructed square metres.

“Housing is being built all over Ukraine, but taxes for this construction are not paid. Ukrainians pay market prices per square metre, yet the local and state budgets do not get the money. Some non-profit organisations were invented and the normal construction process was transformed into tax evasion schemes,” said Volodymyr Groysman. “I instruct the SFS, State Labour Inspectorate to check tax payment and legal employment of all the builders. People are working at construction sites – and they are not officially employed. This should be unacceptable. All services will unite their efforts to bring order in this sector.”

At the same time, as the Head of Government stressed, there will be no pressure on honest developers who work transparently and competitively.

“The pressure will be only for those, who will violate the law. Everyone should construct a high-quality buildings, comfortable for people, and pay taxes,” said the Head of Government.