Kononenko Leasing Land From Kyiv City Council For ‘Tennis Academy’

Kyiv City Council leases out a land plot in picturesque Pushcha Vodytsia area to International Tennis Academy Ltd, belonging to MP Ihor Kononenko. The company is allowed to use it ‘to maintain buildings of a sports and fitness center.’ This decision was supported by 71 Council members, Radio Svoboda reports.

The lease term is 25 years, the land plot is 2.6 hectares (6.4 acres), and the fee is 3% of the land plot value (around ₴963 thousand or $38.5 thousand per year).

According to the Schemes TV show, in December 2014 Kyiv City Council allocated this land plot to the company Leninska Kuznya controlled by Ihor Kononenko and Petro Poroshenko. The company was expected to develop a youth athletic center there. However, when the athletic center started working in 2015, it appeared to be a private sports center rather than a public facility where children can exercise for free.

The new decision changes the tenant – from Leninska Kuznya to International Tennis Academy – and the purpose of lease – from construction of a youth athletic center to ‘maintaining buildings of a sports and fitness center.’

Ihor Kononenko asserts there is no legal impropriety. "It is impossible to comply with Soviet-style provision of the status of a youth athletic center in the current context," he adds. He asked to support this project, because "this is about children, sports and youth."

Source: Ukrayinska Pravda.Kyiv