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UkrVodBud Construction and Installation Directorate

UkrVodBud Construction and Installation Directorate (UkrVodBud Main Directorate) — a specialized state construction-and-installation organization, created in the UkrSSR in 1950 by a resolution of the Council of Ministers of the USSR to directly supervise the construction of the South-Ukrainian and North Crimean canals, as well as the Kakhovka Hydroelectric Node.

Overview

According to the resolution of the Council of Ministers of the USSR of September 21, 1950 "On the construction of the Kakhovka Hydroelectric Power Station on the Dnieper River, the South-Ukrainian Canal, the North Crimean Canal, and on the irrigation of lands in the southern districts of Ukraine and the northern districts of Crimea", the UkrSSR was assigned the task of concentrating enormous material-technical, transport, and personnel resources. To implement this program, a specialized "UkrVodBud" system was formed with its center in Zaporizhzhia, and its main construction sections and branches were located in Kherson, Nova Kakhovka, Dzhankoi, and Simferopol.

In the monograph by P. V. Satskyi, the decisive role of "UkrVodBud" in the material-technical support of hydraulic construction in Southern Ukraine and Crimea is revealed, as well as the mobilization of builders and mechanizers from republican enterprises and collective farms (kolkhozes) of the UkrSSR, and the management of the initial route-survey and exploration works of the North Crimean Canal in 1950–1954.

Key Details / Subtopics

  • Organizational structure and leadership: The management apparatus was headed by hydraulic engineer Andriian Bochkin. Organizationally, "UkrVodBud" had a branched structure of branches and was subordinated to the Council of Ministers of the UkrSSR and union ministries (in particular, the Ministry of Cotton Growing of the USSR, and later — the Ministry of Agriculture of the UkrSSR).
  • Personnel shortage and organized recruitment: The construction constantly faced a severe personnel shortage. Workers were attracted through planned organized recruitment (orgnabor) throughout the territory of the UkrSSR, and through the creation of a network of training-course combines for the preparation of mechanizers, concrete workers, and geodesists.
  • Technical equipment and living conditions: Despite the accumulation of machinery from the plants of Ukraine, the material-technical equipment was insufficient. The living conditions of builders in the steppe remained extremely difficult: people lived in tents, temporary barracks, without proper sanitary-medical provision, which caused significant personnel turnover.
  • Resource mobilization: "UkrVodBud" had to accumulate scarce cement, metal, and machinery, often using informal connections with other enterprises of the republic to fulfill the plans.
  • Contribution to infrastructure creation: Subdivisions of "UkrVodBud" conducted the first exploration works on Perekop and in Northern Crimea even before 1954.