The legislation of Ukraine clearly defines the distribution of powers in the field of road infrastructure management. Streets and roads of cities and other settlements, as well as artificial structures located on them, including bridges, are the responsibility of local governments.
They must continuously ensure safe, economical and comfortable conditions for the movement of transport and pedestrians on the streets and roads in their communities.
It is also the local authorities that are responsible for the condition of streets and roads, in particular in the context of traffic safety, the quality of work on the design, construction, reconstruction, repair and maintenance of streets and roads of cities and other settlements.
Financing of these activities is carried out at the expense of local budgets and other sources of financing specified by law.
The Paton Bridge across the Dnieper River is an object of municipal property of the city of Kyiv. That is, the bridge belongs to the territorial community of Kyiv. Therefore, it is the Kyiv City Council and its executive body that has the authority and obligation to ensure its proper technical condition. Including planning and financing repair and restoration work at the expense of the city budget.
Back in 2018, the bridge was recognized as being in an inoperable state, that is, in an emergency state.
In 2023, the Commission for the Inspection of Bridge Structures, established to implement the decision of the National Security and Defense Council, found out that emergency measures were carried out only on individual supports of the bridge in 2018 and 2019. In total, the city authorities spent 15 million hryvnias for these purposes. At the same time, experts confirmed that the bridge is in the fifth inoperable operational state. In the future, including the date of the commission inspection, no repair work was carried out.
These facts confirm the long-term absence of systematic work by the city authorities to restore the bridge to its operational condition and finance the relevant works.
Thus, the bridge, as before, is in the municipal ownership of the city of Kyiv, and any transfer of the rights and functions of the customer regarding its restoration does not terminate the obligation of the city authorities to ensure its safe operation, create comfortable traffic conditions and, above all, to search for and attract appropriate financing.
Thus, full responsibility for the maintenance, restoration and safe operation of the Paton Bridge currently belongs to the territorial community of the city of Kyiv. (Development Ministry)