Recently, on September 14, 2023, with the help of the Prozorro electronic sales system, an auction was held for the sale of a Special Permit for the use of the subsoil of the Mezhyrichenskaya and Siletska sections of the Mezhyrichensky deposit, located in the Chervonohrad district of the Lviv region, for the purpose of geological study, including research and industrial development of the deposit, approval of reserves of DKZ of Ukraine by industrial categories, with subsequent sand extraction (industrial development of the deposit). The organizer of the auction is the State Geology and Subsoil Service of Ukraine. That is, this state service on behalf of the state is the seller of this lot.
This was reported in the Chervonograd City Council.
This event touched the residents of the villages of Mezhiryche, Silets, and the city of Sosnivka. The progress of the auction in real time, up to the determination of the winner of the bid, was monitored by public activists, deputies of the Chervonograd City Council and other interested parties.
The cause of concern was the brewing ecological disaster. In addition to industrial coal mining, constant fires on the territory of the Central beneficiation factory “Chervonogradska”, located in the territory of the village of Mezhiryche, sand mining is planned on a plot of land with an area of 117.26 hectares, which is located near residential buildings, which will destroy forest plantations, most of which there is a pine forest. At the same time, due to sand extraction, there will be an even deeper penetration into the earth’s crust, which will cause its destruction. All this together, according to the public, can cause the subsidence of the earth’s surface, the formation of cracks and the destruction of the buildings of the residents of the Chervonograd urban territorial community.
In support of the members of the community, on the day of the auction, the Chervonograd city council at the meeting of the thirty-first session of the eighth convocation adopted decision No. 2070 dated 14.09.2023 “On the appeal of the Chervonograd City Council to the Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, the Chairman of the Lviv Regional Military Administration, the Ministry of Environmental Protection and of natural resources, the State Service of Ukraine for geodesy, cartography and cadastre”. In the appeal, a request was made to influence this situation and prevent an ecological disaster in this region and to cancel the results of the auction dated September 14, 2023, lot number SUE001-UA-20230825, “Special permit for the use of subsoil – Mezhyrichan and Siletska sections of the Mezhyrichen deposit…”.
Community members are now growing concerned. Claims are being made against the leadership of the Executive Committee of the Chervonograd City Council. Therefore, we provide additional information and some clarifications on this matter.
The presence of the winner of the auction (“HALYCH SERVICE AUTOTRANS” LLC) of a special permit for the use of subsoil will not give him the right to start developing a quarry. The land legislation requires the allocation of land. The procedure for allocating land is determined by the Land Code of Ukraine, the Law of Ukraine “On Land Management” and the Law of Ukraine “On the State Land Cadastre”.
Now the entire territory of the mining right-of-way is occupied. Land plots have users. The notarized consent of the existing land users is required for the removal of these plots. A change in purpose, that is, the transfer of lands from the category of forest fund lands to the category of industrial lands, requires mandatory approval of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine. This requirement is dictated by Clause 7 of Art. 20 of the Land Code of Ukraine.
In this case, part of the territory of the mining allotment with an area of 39.78 ha (Siletska site) belongs to the lands of the state-owned forest fund, is in permanent use of the State Enterprise LVIV FORESTRY and has the purpose of “For forest management and related services” . The manager of this land on behalf of the state is the Lviv Regional Military Administration.
The second part of the territory of the mining allotment with an area of 77.48 hectares (Mezhyrichenskaya site) is communal property. Of them, the area of approximately 20.0 hectares is communal property of the Chervonograd city territorial community. This part of the site is located north of the waste dump of the Central Mining and Metallurgical Plant and is leased by the Public Joint-Stock Company “Lviv Coal Company” (former Central Mining and Metallurgical Plant). Purposeful designation of a land plot for the placement and operation of main, auxiliary and auxiliary buildings and structures of enterprises of processing, machine-building and other industries. Category – Lands of industry, transport, communications, energy, defense and other purposes. The administrator of this part of the land plot is the Chervonograd City Council.
The rest of the territory of the Mezhirychensk section of the mining concession is the lands of the forest fund of the communal property of the Lviv Regional Council, which is in permanent use by the Sokal subsidiary forestry enterprise of the LLP “HALSILLIS”. The manager of this land is the Lviv Regional Council.
In addition to this information, we provide an extract from the mining right-of-way documentation regarding the geological characteristics of the mineral deposits (sand). In the geological structure of the work area