{"id":35816,"date":"2025-07-16T18:09:22","date_gmt":"2025-07-16T15:09:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ces.org.ua\/?p=35816"},"modified":"2025-08-04T14:28:57","modified_gmt":"2025-08-04T11:28:57","slug":"the-recovery-spending-watchdog-july-2025","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ces.org.ua\/en\/the-recovery-spending-watchdog-july-2025\/","title":{"rendered":"The recovery spending watchdog \u211620: From Thermal Modernization to DREAM"},"content":{"rendered":"

In July, the government took several important steps in recovery planning \u2014 it approved a medium-term investment plan and expanded the functionality of DREAM. At the same time, the scale of destruction continues to grow, while procurement remains largely non-competitive.<\/span><\/p>\n

Strategy and Priorities<\/b><\/p>\n

The government approved a thermal modernization program through 2030, established a new coordination center for regional recovery, and launched a national building database. A medium-term investment plan for 2026\u20132028 also emerged, with a focus on energy efficiency, accessibility, and climate resilience. The total budget exceeds UAH 581 billion, most of which still needs to be secured.<\/span><\/p>\n

DREAM: Ambitions and Reality<\/b><\/p>\n

DREAM already includes over 12,700 projects totaling more than UAH 2 trillion. However, current funding covers only UAH 491 billion. At the same time, the number of damaged facilities continues to grow. The eVidnovlennia (eRecovery) program remains the main tool for supporting those affected \u2014 both through compensation and housing certificates. Meanwhile, at the international URC2025 conference, Ukraine signed new agreements and memorandums worth over \u20ac3.5 billion. A portion of this funding is earmarked specifically for housing, infrastructure, and community recovery.<\/span><\/p>\n

Many Procurements, Little Competition<\/b><\/p>\n

In the first half of 2025, over 61,000 construction procurements were conducted, totaling UAH 106 billion. However, more than 80% involved only a single bidder. The largest contracts were awarded for projects in Mykolaiv and the Podilskyi Bridge. Despite the decline in competition, some tenders achieved price reductions of over 50%.<\/span><\/p>\n

Media Scrutiny of Spending Intensifies<\/b><\/p>\n

Journalists are increasingly uncovering potential overpayments and violations: a tender in Borodianka revealed an overpayment of UAH 7 million; a repeated tender for an oncology clinic turned out more expensive; and some contractors involved have been linked to embezzlement cases. Common themes in investigations include single-bid procurements, underreported wages, and unjustified expenditures. Reports highlighting procedural flaws and lack of transparency are also on the rise.<\/span><\/p>\n

Education and Healthcare<\/b><\/p>\n

Over 6,000 facilities have been damaged, with more than 1,100 restored. The DREAM system lists over 3,700 active projects. However, funding covers only a fraction of the needs \u2014 0.9% for healthcare and 12.8% for education. The highest number of projects is concentrated in the Cherkasy, Donetsk, Mykolaiv, Odesa, and Kharkiv regions. In June, the restoration of Okhmatdyt Children’s Hospital began, and Lithuania is investing in a new school hub in Zhytomyr.<\/span><\/p>\n

Demining Efforts Accelerate<\/b><\/p>\n

In the first half of 2025, more than 41,000 hectares of agricultural land, 162 kilometers of roads, and 93 kilometers of railway were cleared of mines. A total of 278 demining machines have been produced. A memorandum with GCS was signed to support demining efforts in the Kyiv region.<\/span><\/p>\n

The release was prepared within the framework of the EU-funded project \u201cThe recovery spending watchdog\u201d. Previous releases are available <\/span><\/i>here<\/i><\/b><\/a>. The project is a joint effort of the Centre for Economic Strategy, the Institute for Economic Research and Policy Consulting, and the NGO \u201cTechnologies of Progress\u201d. All project participants are members of the RISE coalition.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In July, the government took several important steps in recovery planning \u2014 it approved a medium-term investment plan and expanded the functionality of DREAM. At the same time, the scale of destruction continues to grow, while procurement remains largely non-competitive. Strategy and Priorities The government approved a thermal modernization program through 2030, established a new […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":35405,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[492,200],"tags":[578],"experts":[],"news_type":[138,140],"class_list":["post-35816","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-economy-during-the-war-en","category-news-list-en","tag-recovery-en","news_type-press-release","news_type-researches"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ces.org.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35816","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ces.org.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ces.org.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ces.org.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ces.org.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=35816"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/ces.org.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35816\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":35912,"href":"https:\/\/ces.org.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35816\/revisions\/35912"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ces.org.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/35405"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ces.org.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=35816"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ces.org.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=35816"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ces.org.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=35816"},{"taxonomy":"experts","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ces.org.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/experts?post=35816"},{"taxonomy":"news_type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ces.org.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news_type?post=35816"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}