PrimaMedia, April 25
Vladivostok's delayed school sparks probe after years of broken promises
Alexander Bastrykin, head of Russia's Investigative Committee, has taken personal oversight of an inquiry into alleged violations of minors' rights in Vladivostok's Patrokl microdistrict. The intervention follows a video appeal from parents posted online, the committee's press service reported.
"Alexander Ivanovich Bastrykin, Chairman of the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation, has instructed Eduard Anatolyevich Trubchik, head of the Primorsky Territory branch of the Investigative Committee, to conduct a procedural review and submit a report on both preliminary and final findings, as well as on the measures being taken to address the issues raised by residents in their video appeal," the statement reads.
In their message, local residents noted that the original development plan for Patrokl included the construction of a general education school. However, the building remains unfinished, with completion deadlines repeatedly postponed. Children have been forced to attend an overcrowded school in a neighboring district, where there are not enough places for all students. According to residents, attempts to resolve the issue through official channels have yielded no results.
The Investigative Committee's central office will monitor the progress of the assignment.
The school in the rapidly developing Patrokl microdistrict was designed as early as 2018, with construction beginning in 2021—two years later than the original 2019 start date—after the initial contractor was replaced. Work has since faced repeated delays. The contract initially set a 2022 completion date, which authorities and the contractor later pushed to late 2023, then to August 1, 2024, before delaying it further to July 2025. Over this period, the contract's value ballooned from 1.8 billion to 2.9 billion rubles.
Last year, however, construction ground to a halt. The general contractor, Alliance Group, took the matter to court, demanding the contract price be raised from 2.95 billion to 4.5 billion rubles and the completion date extended to 2027. In response, Vladivostok's city administration terminated the contract with Alliance.
Later, the city secured the right to award a no-bid contract for the school's completion at the highest possible price. An open electronic tender for finishing the 1,275-student School No. 1 in Patrokl was declared void after only one of the two bidders met the additional experience requirements, according to procurement records.
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