Dear citizens living in Matviivka and other Mykolaiv districts,
I am addressing to you again in regard to my proposition to construct the transshipment terminal outside Matviivka microdistrict.
NIBULON has recognized the urgent need to reduce traffic load in Mykolaiv for almost 20 years. Our officials or politicians, promoting themselves during the election campaigns, usually propose a solution to this problem by either building a bridge at a sky-high price which is unaffordable for the city or by prohibiting truck entrance into the transit city, as well as other unrealistic ideas. Unfortunately, these statements remain in the virtual world, and we continue living and suffering from the truck flow in Mykolaiv.
As a Mykolaiv citizen, I care about this problem. In 2009, I started to solve it. I construct transshipment terminals along the rivers and a modern cargo fleet at NIBULON’s own shipyard. Today I have much be proud of. NIBULON transports almost 60% of grain cargoes (3.5 million tons per year) by rivers. The company delivered above 1 million tons of cargoes to Mykolaiv along the Southern Buh River, thereby removing more than 41 thousand trucks from the city. Thus, every Mykolaiv citizen inhales fewer pollutants caused by road transport, and etc.
Thus, it is too early to stop at what has been accomplished; Mykolaiv citizens deserve comfortable living conditions in the city. Thus, additional measures are necessary to solve these problems. My idea to construct the terminal at the entrance to the city is a real solution.
I announced my intentions during the public hearing. Mykolaiv citizens’ point of view is worth listening to. We held the public hearing in Matviivka microdistrict, where the majority supported our idea. The Vechirniy Mykolaiv newspaper has already published an article concerning this event.
Last Saturday there was held a city’s public hearing to make amendments to Mykolaiv general plan, where a strategic environmental assessment issue was discussed. Everyone had an opportunity to share propositions and comments to be taken into consideration. I also participated in the public hearing, because I have an idea to considerably reduce the cargo flow in the city, thereby improving the environmental situation in Mykolaiv as well as in Matviivka. Some local citizens protect an illegal dump at the site of possible construction.
I was surprised to see a half-empty hall. Are the citizens not interested in the city’s life? In the social networks they are ready to move mountains, criticizing Mykolaiv bridges, illegal construction, small architectural forms, and inactivity of the officials. However, they demonstrate their indifference and detachment in reality. 
I am also surprised by the process itself. Some people did not know how things were going there; others, who seemed to protect interests of our competitors at a price, had no desire to have a constructive discussion or to make propositions. Having provoked others, they just left the public hearing. The critics misled people by spreading rumors or telling scare stories. The formally unemployed “public” activists cannot but attend these events. They are against any initiative, provoke people, and express the so-called “expert” opinion on different issues. I am disappointed and annoyed by this situation, as I realize that the citizens will not get any improvements without constructivism, cool head, and proper organization.
One of the general plan designers mentioned useful information about plants located next to settlements in the European countries. People do not feel any negative impact. The European companies strictly meet the environmental legislation in practice and not on paper. She is completely right. NIBULON operates the same way.
NIBULON uses at all its facilities a closed technology to transport and process grain; the technological processes are served by 288 aspiration systems equipped with the dust removal equipment meeting the world’s highest standards.
The company implemented a European approach to gather production waste separately, which is then given to licensed organizations for further utilization or recycling according to the sanitary and environmental standards.
The accreditation certificate of NIBULON’s chemical and technological laboratory allows the company to measure atmospheric air quality by 31 indices, water quality by 40 indices, soil and bottom sediments by 17 indices. The company regularly monitors the environment condition at the sites where its branches operate.
NIBULON pays particular attention to the sewage water cleaning. The company uses a method of complete biological cleaning with ultrafiltration membranes, which is widely implemented in Europe.
 In 2018, the EBRD recognized NIBULON as the bronze award winner under the “Environmental and Social Innovation” category with an investment program to expand and modernize grain logistics infrastructure, developing grain transportation by inland waterways. The nominees were chosen among the bank clients in the countries where the EBRD’s offices operate.  
These are the very indicators to which attention should be paid, rather than rumors and empty emotional shouting of the so-called protectors, who purposefully distract attention from the really important issues, thinking only about interests of their bosses. I know who their bosses are.
In addition, the trucks will move to the facility though an old road past a deserted pig farm. We will repair this road. We will create a two-stage crossroad, thereby eliminating the flow of traffic crossing the road. Please note that the trucks already move through Matviivka microdistrict, and pseudo-activists don’t care about it.  
A 100-m area between the houses and the facility will be planted with trees and bushes. By the way, people who live close to this land plot support us. I thought they were against of my idea and provoked the community. Consequently, the facility’s proximity to the houses mostly worries people who live far away from the site.
The transshipment terminal in Matviivka will create 200 workplaces with an average wage of up to UAH 20 thousand per month. Thus, the local citizens will have a deserved workplace close to their homes. They will not have to work abroad and stay far away from their families. (I know that many Matviivka families face this situation).
The company implements important social projects as part of its social partnership agreements. For example, some people worry that the facility will destroy a beautiful view of the river. Are you able to go to the river bank, bumping into shrubs, dumps, and fences of private houses? I would deposit 30-50 m of sand preventing bulrush overgrowth and reducing insect quantity. I would arrange walkways planted with greenery. It would be a great leisure area with a beach and water parks. I have an idea to join a local quay with a forest through Matviivka circular road. I think it would become a favourite leisure center for people from both Matviivka and Mykolaiv. What do you think of electric carts taking people to leisure areas? Will it be easier to come to Mykolaiv by motorboats? Are you imagining this?
What are the ideas of those critics? To plant greenery in the territory with a difficult landscape, which will probably grow in 15 or 20 years? It is also doubtful. I was told a weird situation. There was a person in Matviivka who cleaned the forest, the river bank as well as planted saplings, and then the local citizens started pasturing goats which ate all these saplings. Is this the way humans behave? Is every positive initiative met with hostility in Matviivka?
The following information is for those who blame NIBULON for damaging roads and for other city problems. 2,500 employees work for NIBULON in Mykolaiv, and 50 of them live in Matviivka microdistrict. In 2018-2019, the company paid UAH 1.58 billion of taxes and dues, including:
– UAH 447 million to the Mykolaiv local budget;  
– UAH180 million of exercise taxes intended for road repairs, in particular in Mykolaiv.   
In 2019, the company has paid almost UAH 218 million of taxes to pay pensions. Taking into account the minimum pension amount, 12.6 thousand of pensioners in Ukraine receive pensions due to NIBULON’s operation. Every tenth retired person lives in Mykolaiv. We additionally invest tens of millions of hryvnas to implement social projects: more than 25 computerized classrooms (more than USD 320 thousand) and medical equipment for Mykolaiv hospitals (about USD 600 thousand). It means that your children have an opportunity to get better education. You and your relatives can get medical assistance without leaving the city. Someone say that I allegedly planned everything ten years ago, and my assistance is a way to bribe schools and hospitals. It is nonsense. I believe we can implement any our good idea. It is impossible to do it, when an investor is blamed for assisting schools, kindergartens, hospitals, and retired persons. The pseudo-supporters throw mud, purposefully spread lies and other terrible things, persecuting people who support us – as has happened to Matviivka comprehensive secondary school No.24. People who support NIBULON’s proposition are being bullied and persecuted in the social networks and in the “unbiased” local internet edition which has recently lost its court case concerning publication of false information about NIBULON. I thank people who are brave enough to announce their public position.
There are other people who keep silent and wait for someone to make them happy. It is not unusual, as not only citizens but also local authorities act the same way. They decided that the public hearing was not worth participating in. They invited experts to decide the future of the entire city and people. The matter is that these professionals are not Mykolaiv citizens; the city is a strange and unfamiliar place for them. They are not aware of our history and the citizens’ needs. It seems the local and regional authorities do not care about Mykolaiv. We will live among ruined buildings, dumps, snack bars on the pavements, and without parks. On one hand, it is prohibited to build structures higher than the fourth store, on the other hand, we are facing illegal buildings that appear in the city without any permissions and discussions. Mykolaiv will remain a grey provincial city with prejudices, envy, and fear of all new, modern, and successful things.  
As a result of people’s indifference and inactivity as well as unwillingness to develop our city, my idea to reduce the traffic load in Mykolaiv and to create new workplaces in Matviivka has provoked threats to people who support me.
P.S. I was even ready to give up. And then I realized that nobody except me will develop our city. Who will develop its infrastructure? Where are all those famous city planners and officials? Where are all those “experts” who tear everybody to pieces, protecting the country and the city in the social networks? They were absent during the public hearing…
By the way, I am not going to give up; challenges inspire me and make me feel that I am doing the right things. I am ready to defend this idea either during the public hearings or in the local referendum. Let us act together and make our city better. 
Sincerely yours,
Hero of Ukraine,
Laureate of the Ukrainian State Prize for Architecture,
NIBULON’s General Director,
Oleksiy Vadaturskyy