Kyiv City Council allowed the development of the land management project of Sovski ponds

Kyiv City Council's deputies allowed the municipal enterprise "Kyivzelenbud" to develop a land management project. It includes the preservation, use, and reproduction of green spaces of the park near Sovski ponds on Valeriya Lobanovsky avenue, 113, in the Holosiivsky district of the capital (project dated 09/06/2021 No. 08/231-3321/PR).

"This decision paves the way to eco-park creation on 20 hectares of the lower cascade of Sovski ponds, The draft decision was developed by the Department of Land Resources of the Kyiv City State Administration after the mayor Vitalyi Klytchko personally met with activists and gave the relevant instructions. Later we discussed the draft with the Head of the Department of Ecology and Natural Resource Oleksandr Vosny and the general director of "Kyivzelenbud" Oleksiy Korol. Both of them regularly visit our municipalities. So, this project is politically neutral, it doesn't trigger confrontation in Kyiv City Council, which made it possible to attract the most support from deputies of various factions", said Andriy Yanitskiy, the head of the public organization "Ecopark Sovski stavky".

The capital's deputies approved the project on May 14, 2022, during the plenary session, which, due to martial law, happened discreetly from the public eye without the protocols and online broadcasting.

Activists found out about the decision from the Kyiv City Council secretariat's letter dated June 7, 2022 (documents via the link). According to the secretariat, 63 of the 67 deputies present at the meeting supported this and other projects of the "Kyivzelenbud" decision. The issue of Sovski ponds was put to the vote in a package together with other issues numbered 3.1.1 "On granting a permit for the development of a land management project for the creation of green areas for public use".

For reference

The lower cascade of Sovski ponds in Kyiv is almost 20 hectares of communal water reservoirs and a green zone on the border of Holosiivskyi and Solomyanskyi districts of Kyiv.

The organization "Ecopark Sovski Stavky" (sovki.org) unites local residents, ecologists, and urban planners who are advocating the creation of a wildlife park for all Kyiv residents on the lower cascade of Sovski ponds.

To recap, on October 6, 2021, the Supreme Court confirmed that the Sovsky ponds belong to the people of Kyiv.