Six sections of Ukrainian roads with a total length of 1,500 km have been selected for potential public-private partnership projects under this program at the first stage.
The relevant program was presented by Minister of Infrastructure Vladyslav Krykliy, head of the State Agency for Automobile Roads of Ukraine (Ukravtodor) Oleksandr Kubrakov, with the participation of Deputy Head of the President’s Office Kyrylo Tymoshenko, Regional Country Director of the World Bank in Eastern Europe (Belarus, Moldova and Ukraine) Arup Banerji, Senior Investment Officer at the International Finance Corporation Oleh Kudashov, and head of the SPILNO PPP Project Management Office Taras Boichuk.
According to the head of Ukravtodor, in particular, among the specified roads are Kharkiv – Dnipro – Zaporizhia road (M-29, M-04, M-18) – repairs and overhauls, the estimated volume of initial investments is $370 million; Boryspil – Poltava road (M-03) – repairs, initial investment is $180 million; Kherson – Mykolaiv road (M-14) – reconstruction, overhaul, repairs and the construction of a new bypass of the settlement, the volume of initial investments is $310 million; Kyiv – Zhytomyr – Rivne road (М-06) – overhaul and repairs, initial investment is $370 million; Yahodyn – Kovel – Lutsk road (M-07, M-19) – reconstruction, repairs and overhaul, initial investment is $240 million; Dnipro – Kryvy Rih – Mykolaiv road (M-04, H11) – reconstruction, overhaul and construction of a new bypass of the settlement, initial investment is $290 million.
Krykliy, in turn, said that the model proposed by the first PPP program in the road industry would attract private investors to the Ukrainian road market. According to him, in the medium term it will be possible to attract more than $9 billion of private investments for the restoration and maintenance of over 4,500 km of national roads.
He added that international consultants hired by the World Bank Group have already completed a preliminary feasibility study for the six pilot road sections selected for the first stage of the project.
All the projects envisage further maintenance of the road by the investor for 20-25 years.
According to Krykliy, the ministry intends to announce the tender in 2021.
“But for this we must adopt all the necessary laws,” he added.
Daniel Tonkopiy, co-founder of the Ukrainian electric bike company Delfast, expects support from President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky to build a plant for the production of Ukrainian electric bikes.
He wrote on his Facebook page that he plans to establish a serious production of tens of thousands of electric bikes a year with a design and engineering bureau, production of metal, plastic, electrical and electronic components, battery assembly, software development and much more, which is necessary for the production and assembly of electric vehicles.
“I presented our project to the president, told him that the Mexican police ride our bikes. Zelensky immediately offered his help in transferring Ukrainian police officers to our electric bikes: “We will help, you can contact me. Yes, directly. My team will help,” Tonkopiy said, citing the president as saying.
He also said that Zelensky announced his readiness to help Delfast to build a plant for the production of electric bikes, presumably in Kyiv region.
Delfast already has a confirmed demand for tens of thousands of bikes from customers around the world, Tonkopiy said.
In July-September 2020, the pharmaceutical company Teva increased sales of the antibiotic with active substance Azithromycin in Ukraine, which accounts for about 11% of its total sales in the country in monetary terms, by 5% compared to the same period in 2019 of the year.
Teva-Ukraine pharmaceutical company told Interfax-Ukraine that since the beginning of the pandemic in Ukraine Teva has sold more than 600,000 packages of this antibiotic.
At the same time, according to the results of the third quarter of 2020, sales in general on the Ukrainian pharmaceutical market in the segment of oral antibiotics in monetary terms grew by 14% compared to the same period in 2019.
Teva-Ukraine said that the company produces both original and generic azithromycin, which is used to treat bacterial respiratory tract infections and other infectious diseases.
Azithromycin is included in the protocol for providing medical care for COVID-19 in Ukraine and in many countries around the world.
“Teva has been providing uninterrupted supplies of azithromycin to Ukraine since the beginning of the pandemic and we will continue doing this,” the company said.
The company said that demand for azithromycin has grown worldwide amid seasonal illnesses and the use of azithromycin for the treatment of co-infections with COVID-19.
“It is possible that certain dosages and forms of production from different manufacturers may be in short supply. In our case, we do not see risks, since Teva’s portfolio contains 17 trade names of azithromycin, most of them are interchangeable. In case of a possible shortage of one of the forms, we proactively warn our partners about this, talk about available alternative forms of production, increase the volume of their imports,” the company said.
At the same time, Teva urges people to remember the rules for using antibiotics and the possible consequences of irrational antibiotic therapy and self-treatment in general.
“Only a doctor can prescribe antibiotics,” the company said.
According to Proxima Research, Azithromycin Teva has been the leader in the oral antibiotics segment in Ukraine since 2019. Over the past month, its share of all medicines in Ukraine amounted to almost 1% in monetary terms.
Teva Ukraine LLC is one of the five largest pharmaceutical companies on the Ukrainian market. The company’s portfolio includes more than 200 generic and original medicines used in most key therapeutic areas.
Teva Ukraine is part of Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd, an international pharmaceutical company headquartered in Israel, founded in 1901. Teva specializes in the development, production and marketing of generic and original medicines and active pharmaceutical ingredients.
The mobile operator Kyivstar has increased 4G coverage in the nine regions of Ukraine, having installed 29 base stations at LTE900 frequencies.
According to the operator’s statement, residents of 176 settlements in Vinnytsia, Dnipropetrovsk, Donetsk, Kirovohrad, Lviv, Mykolaiv, Poltava, Khmelnytsky, and Cherkasy regions got the opportunity to use high-speed mobile Internet.
4G mobile communications became available in the cities of Hirnyk, Ocheretyne, Rodynske, Siversk (Donetsk region), Zhydachiv, Khodoroiv, Busk (Lviv region), Kotelva (Poltava region), Balakhivka, Molodizhne, (Kirovohrad region) and in dozens of villages. More than 160,000 people have the opportunity to use mobile Internet at high speed up to 100 Mbps.
The total number of Kyivstar mobile base stations exceeded 38,000 in October.
Kyivstar has provided access to 4G for almost 85% of the population.
In 2020, the operator invested more than UAH 4 billion in the development of new mobile technologies.
National bank of Ukraine’s official rates as of 30/10/20
Official rates of banking metals from national bank as of October 30
One troy ounce=31.10 grams
