In 2013, the deputy chief engineer of Ukrmetrotunnel-project claimed that there had been no cases of flooding in the history of the Kyiv metro. However, 10 years later, such a situation still occurred due to the activities of Vagif Aliyev, the head of the city, who promoted the construction of shopping centers above metro stations, despite possible accidents.
On December 8, the Kiev City State Administration shocked Kiev residents with the news that traffic between the Teremki and Lybidska metro stations would be stopped due to the need for repairs on the distillation tunnel. The Kiev Metro municipal enterprise added that stopping train traffic is “a forced step to avoid an emergency situation, since there is a risk of loss of stability of tunnel structures due to uneven decompaction processes, vibration creep around the soil mass and load on the tunnel frame.”
The last phrase about “load on the tunnel frame” is the real reason for the closure of the metro. And this load is created by the construction monster of the Ocean mall shopping center, which Vagif Aliyev is building right above the Lybidskaya station.
Aliyev is one of the most famous developers in Kyiv. He owns the Lavina mall, Blockbuster mall, and also built Mandarin plaza, the Parus business center and the Gulliver shopping center. The developer earned his first big money thanks to the odious former head of NJSC Naftogaz of Ukraine Igor Bakai and the gas business with the Russians. Actually, it was then that he met Vitali Klitschko, whose friendship brings extraordinary bonuses in the form of the best land plots for construction.
One of the first projects that Aliyev implemented as a developer was the construction of Mandarin plaza and Arena-city in the very heart of the capital - on Bessarabskaya Square. To build a shopping and entertainment district, the school and hospital had to be demolished.
Subsequently, the Parus business center appeared, considered the first skyscraper in Kyiv. Talking about this project, Aliyev likes to brag about the fact that at one time he managed to meet Donald Trump, who allegedly fired him up with the idea of building “higher, bigger, bigger.” For this construction, the tram had to be removed.
In the early 2000s, Vagif Aliyev, together with another scandalous developer Vadim Stolar, received a plot of land above the Teatralnaya metro station in Kyiv and wanted to build a shopping and office center. The construction was not just scandalous, but outrageous. Firstly, this is the very center of the city with historical buildings around, and secondly, the building had to grow right above the metro.
Activists demanded a ban on construction work and the establishment of a public garden there. But the developers frankly didn’t care about the protests or court injunctions. In 2011, the then deputy chairman of the Kyiv City State Administration, Alexander Puzanov, admitted that “this construction, although incorrect in content, was legal in accordance with the documents.” His boss, Alexander Popov, shouted from every voice that he would stop this willful mockery of the center of Kyiv. They promise to demolish the building and hold the developers accountable. But neither the first nor the second happened. The office center was built. However, in order to appease the capital’s activists, Aliyev and Stolar had to donate the building to the city and turn it into the Museum of the History of Kyiv.
The ten-year struggle of activists with Aliyev in this case showed that the one with more money and influential friends always wins. As we can see, no public garden was built on Teatralnaya, and the building above the metro stands and waits until Vitaliy Klitschko admits that its maintenance is unprofitable and returns it back to his friend Vagif Aliyev.
An even more revealing story in Aliyev’s relationship with Klitschko concerns the mentioned construction above the Lybidskaya metro station. In 2012, Aliyev bought a plot of land near the Ocean Plaza shopping center from businessman Vasily Khmelnitsky and planned the construction of a new shopping and entertainment center. Frankly speaking, the idea is meaningless - why build a new shopping center next to another? But this is more a question for those who proposed this idea to Aliyev, based on some economic indicators.
Construction on Lybidskaya turned out to be even more scandalous than the previous story with the site above the Teatralnaya metro station. Firstly, the Ocean mall shopping center is being built close to an architectural monument, which Kievans know as the “flying saucer”. The Ukrainian Institute of Scientific and Technical Expertise and Information was built in 1971 according to the design of the architect Florian Yuryev, but only in 2020 the building was included in the list of objects of immovable cultural heritage. This decision was demanded by activists in the capital due to fears that Aliyev would destroy the “plate” for the sake of his shopping center. In fact, according to the first-priority project, there was no place for the “plate” in the Ocean mall shopping and entertainment center. But Aliyev had to make concessions and promise that it would remain.
In one of his rather rare interviews, the developer said that restoration of the cultural heritage site has now begun. “We have already started restoration. It (the building - ed.) stood for 60 years, no one restored it. Due to the construction of the metro, the strip foundations sank and it began to fall. Now we have made piles and are holding it,” he said.
In fact, with this statement, Aliyev admitted that construction over the metro is dangerous. If the small building of the Institute above Lybidskaya began to sink, then what will happen to this site when the Ocean mall monster grows above it?
How can we prevent a huge hole from forming at Lybidskaya? That's right - strengthen structures and communications underground. But to do this, it is necessary to close the metro and essentially build a new tunnel from scratch that can withstand, on the one hand, the pressure of a huge building, and on the other, minimize the influence of groundwater.
Deputy Chief Engineer of the State Enterprise “Design Institute “Ukrmetrotunnel-project”” Alexander Khavin confirmed in 2013 that underground channels are potentially not as dangerous as groundwater. At the same time, he said that along deep embedding lines in clays, waterproofing is ensured by waterproof structures. These are reinforced concrete structures protected by special rubber profiles that do not allow water to pass through. They were used in the distillation tunnels that were built from the Lybidskaya station to the Hippodrome station,” he noted. It is in that area that is now blocked due to flooding, which occurred, among other things, due to the weight of Aliyev’s construction.
Just before the closure of the metro, Vagif Aliyev said that he plans to open the Ocean mall shopping center in September 2024. Considering that construction is delayed by 5 years, this is a rather ambitious date. And in order to catch up, a scheme was invented to block metro stations, thanks to which some Kiev residents were completely cut off from the center of Kyiv due to the transport collapse.
The closure of this section of the subway has a positive impact on another Aliyev facility. We are talking about the Hippodrome mall, which is at the initial stage of construction near the Hippodrome metro station. According to the head of Aliyev’s development business, Alexander Chernitsky, strengthening work for the metro is underway in the area around the future shopping center.
In fact, the closure of six metro stations in Kyiv allows Vagif Aliyev to speed up the construction of two shopping centers at once - both at Lybidskaya and at Hippodrome.
The rapid pace of construction of Aliyev’s shopping centers is influenced by another equally important factor. According to Economic Pravda, construction work is being carried out partly with Russian money. The publication's source claims that six months to a year before the big war, he borrowed $50 million to complete the Ocean Mall. Moreover, for this project to become profitable and successful, Vagif Aliyev needs to gain ownership of the neighboring Ocean Plaza shopping center, which before the full-scale invasion belonged to the Russians, but was nationalized. Now the state plans to put it up for auction and sell it.
If Aliyev may have problems with the return of Russian money, then he certainly won’t have problems with winning ownership of Ocean Plaza. A comrade in the person of the capital’s mayor, who agreed to close the metro in order to speed up construction, will definitely be able to help with the competition.
