Poltava city council refused to inform mass media about cost of setting up bicycle track

The department of housing and communal economy of the Executive Committee of Poltava city council refused to provide to “Information “Energolife” (Poltava) the requested information about the cost of setting up the bicycle track in the city. This was reported to IMI by the journalist of information agency Yevhenia Kabluchka. As Yevhenia said, she sent the request of this information on October 4 by e-mail. She requested a copy of the document where the total amount of money spent for setting up the bicycle track at Kurchatova street, Poltava, and a copy of the document listing the streets where bicycle tracks were set up or are planned to be set up in 2017. The response, signed by vice-head of the Department of housing and communal rconomy K.Malko, stated that the request from a legal entity must be supplemented with signatures. Malko referred to part 1 of article 208 of the Civil Code of Ukraine that regulates correspondence between legal entities. IMI media lawyer Maksym Ratushnyi considers the refusal of the city council baseless. “The reference to the provisions of the Civil Code of Ukraine that regulate legal relations by correspondence are not applicable when considering requests for access to public information, as this type of correspondence does not relate to acquisition, change, or termination of civil rights - so this is not a valid argument for the refusal to provide information”, the lawyer said.