Protection of Ukraine’s energy facilities implemented less than three-quarters of planned: Accounting Chamber
UAH 35.9 billion was allocated to finance the project to protect critical infrastructure in the fuel and energy sector in 2023–2024. Of this amount, UAH 29.97 billion was actually received, and UAH 18.71 billion was used. This was reported by the Accounting Chamber.
“During the entire implementation of the pilot project, the average level of readiness of UAV protective structures was less than three-quarters of the planned level, and missile defense fortification structures were less than a quarter“, the department’s website states.
As the Accounting Chamber recalled, in 2023–2024, the Cabinet of Ministers implemented a pilot project on the construction, reconstruction and implementation of other engineering and technical measures to protect fuel and energy facilities in order to overcome the consequences of attacks and increase the stability of the energy system. The State Agency for Infrastructure Restoration and Development of Ukraine was designated as the coordinator and executor of the project.
“The auditors established that the project had an appropriate regulatory framework and a defined goal, but did not fully meet the requirements of modern project management”, the Accounting Chamber noted.
In particular, the monitoring and reporting system turned out to be imperfect, and there were significant gaps at the stage of forming the business case. The requirements for the project were not assessed and the volumes of human, financial and material resources necessary for its implementation were not determined. In addition, funding was provided from unpredictable and unstable sources, clear performance indicators were not established, as well as the roles of participants and mechanisms for coordinating their work.
The Accounting Chamber emphasized that the Recovery Agency, not being a specialized body in the field of critical energy infrastructure protection, did not have sufficient experience in developing specialized engineering solutions. The regional recovery services, which were the customers of the work, as well as contracting organizations, lack similar experience.
