The State Roads Agency of Ukraine (Ukravtodor) considers one of its priorities for 2021 to update roads leading to checkpoints on the border of Ukraine, the agency’s Telegram channel reported on Thursday.
“This will contribute to the growth of exports, transit and tourism,” the press service of the agency quoted chairman of Ukravtodor Oleksandr Kubrakov as saying.
He also noted that this year the road M-07 Kyiv – Kovel – Yahodyn (to Lublin) is being renewed within the framework of the national program “Big Construction”. In particular, the reconstruction and extension of the section of the roadway to the first category have already been carried out. The plans are for M-07 (the entire route after Kovel and up to the border) to become the first category highway.
Extension to the first category was also carried out on the N-22 Kyiv – Rivne highway.
In total, 156 km of national roads are being renovated in Volyn this year, of which the top layer has already been laid on almost 100 km.
Ukraine exported 14.8 million tonnes of grain and legumes since the beginning of the new 2020/2021 marketing year (MY, July-June) and as of October 23, which is 2.77 million tonnes less than on the same period of previous marketing year.
According to the information and analytical portal of the agro-industrial complex of Ukraine, to date, 10 million tonnes of wheat, 3.3 million tonnes of barley and 1.4 million tonnes of maize have been exported.
As of October 23 this year, 59,000 tonnes of flour were also exported.
As reported, Ukraine exported a record 57.2 million tonnes of grain, legumes and flour in the 2019/2020 marketing year, which is 13.5% more than in the previous one.
The fall of agricultural production in Ukraine accelerated in September 2020 from the same month in 2019 to 19.2% from 5.5% in August, the State Statistics Service reported on its website.
According to its data, in general, in January-September this year, the decline in the Ukrainian agro-industrial complex accelerated to 13.1% from 9.8% in the eight months.
As reported, in 2019 agricultural production in Ukraine increased by 1.1% after jumping by 8.1% in 2018 and falling by 2.2% in 2017.
National bank of Ukraine’s official rates as of 23/10/20
Source: National Bank of Ukraine
Ukraine is planning to implement the first pilot public-private partnership (PPP) projects in the road industry, transferring six highways to concession.
A source in the industry told Interfax-Ukraine that the first sections and routes for PPP implementation will be offered:
– a section of the M-03 road from Boryspil to Poltava;
– a section of the M-06 road from Kyiv to Rivne;
– the route from Dnipro to Kryvy Rih and Mykolaiv (М-04, Н-11);
– the route Yahodyn – Kovel – Lutsk (М-07, М-19);
– the route Kharkiv – Dnipro – Zaporizhia (M-29, M-04, M-18);
– a section of the M-14 road from Kherson to Mykolaiv.
At the same time, a private investor will undertake the obligation to update and develop the existing road, and funds will be allocated from the Road Fund to support the investor, provided that he observes all obligations on the quality of road maintenance.
Instead of collection of fares, it is planned that the investor will earn by developing roadside infrastructure: gas stations, catering establishments, advertising space, etc.
According to Minister of Infrastructure of Ukraine Vladyslav Krykliy, the implementation of the entire program will allow in the medium term to attract more than $9 billion of private investment in the restoration and maintenance of more than 4,500 kilometers of national highways.
The first public-private partnership program in the road sector of Ukraine is planned to be presented in Kyiv on October 29, 2020.