Head of the Servant of the People faction David Arakhamia predicts that in February the Verkhovna Rada will be able to adopt draft law No. 3613 on democracy through a referendum at the second reading.
“We wanted to vote on the draft law on the referendum in December, but since there are 2,000 amendments, we need to work with their authors so that they either withdraw them or not insist on their consideration too much, that is, do not block the adoption of the law. Since it could be voted on in December according to the level of preparedness. I think we will accept it in February,” the politician told Interfax-Ukraine.
After this law, according to him, there will be more initiatives on electronic referendum, about local referendums, as well as the entire package of bills on democracy.
Arakhamia also believes that the Rada needs to develop an electronic voting model by the end of 2021, at least at the local level.
British-based Ferrexpo Plc, which in Ukraine, in particular, controls Poltava and Yeristovo ore mining and processing plants (Poltava GOK and Yeristovo GOK), in January-November of this year, according to recent data, increased the total production of pellets by 5% compared to the same the period of 2019, to 10.16 million tonnes.
A representative of the company informed Interfax-Ukraine that during this period the output of concentrate increased by 4.8%, to 12.7 million tonnes.
In November, the company produced 980,000 tonnes of pellets and 1.2 million tonnes of concentrate.
According to the company, Ferrexpo in the first quarter of 2020 compared to the same period in 2019 increased its total pellet production by 7.4%, to 2.725 million tonnes. In particular, the production of pellets with a 65% iron content was 2.652 million tonnes (an increase of 9.1%), with a 62% iron content some 73,330 tonnes (a decrease of 31.8%).
In the second quarter of this year, Ferrexpo increased its pellet production by 5.4% from the previous quarter, to 2.873 million tonnes, in particular it produced 2.848 million tonnes of pellets with a 65% iron content (an increase of 7.4%), 24,700 tonnes with a 62% iron content (a decrease of 66.3%).
In the third quarter of 2020, total pellet production decreased by 12% compared to the second quarter, to 2.537 million tonnes from 2.873 million tonnes, while no pellets with a 62% iron were produced.
Ferrexpo is an iron ore company with assets in Ukraine.
Ferrexpo owns 100% of shares in Poltava GOK, 100% in Yeristovo GOK and 99.9% in Belanovo GOK.
President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky has announced that in 2021, on the 30th anniversary of Ukraine’s independence, within the framework of the Big Construction program, it is planned to open the longest highway in the country – M-30 – from Stry in Lviv region to Izvaryne in Luhansk region.
“Our whole philosophy is aimed at uniting Ukraine, and this is what the infrastructure is about. We want to unite the west and the east with one large high-speed highway which is called M-30. This will be the longest road in Ukraine – 1,400 kilometers. It will go from Stry, but so far only to reach Pokrovsk, because 200 kilometers of this road is in the temporarily occupied part of Luhansk region,” Zelensky said during a working trip to Zaporizhia.
Deputy Head of the President’s Office Kyrylo Tymoshenko said that part of the route was restored in 2020, the rest will be restored next year. According to him, even without taking into account 200 km in the temporarily occupied territory, this route is still the longest in Ukraine.
Illegal timber trade in Ukraine is about 30% of the legal, or UAH 5 billion per year, Minister of Environmental Protection and Natural Resources Roman Abramovsky has said.
“This is a lot of money that can be used for forest management, fire-prevention measures, including replacing the species in the composition of forests,” Abramovsky said in an interview with Interfax-Ukraine.
According to him, in order to comprehensively solve forestry problems, the ministry is working on a strategy for managing Ukrainian forests until 2035, which, in particular, provides for the separation of economic and regulatory functions of the State Forest Resources Agency of Ukraine.
“Everything is kept in one body. There is a conflict of interests, corruption risks. Therefore, part of the economic functions must be given to a separate entity or business entities,” the minister said. He said that it could be one company or a concern with regional units.
The minister also expressed support for the development of electronic auctions for the sale of timber, its certification and traceability “from forest to product.”
In his opinion, it is necessary to provide for the possibility of auctioning both large lots for large woodworking enterprises and small lots for local producers, which today, according to him, “actually depend on the mood of the director of the forestry enterprise.”
At the same time, Abramovsky said that the issue of motivating the heads of forestry enterprises to boost profits remains important.
“Now the payments of a part of the net profit to the state budget are at the level of 90%. This simply depletes funds of enterprises. We will make proposals on this matter that the share of net profit should be 30%, since even in the current state the forestry industry pays UAH 6 billion in taxes, in fact receiving nothing from the state,” Abramovsky said.
Logistics Company Marken (the United States) has opened a pharmaceutical depot in Kyiv, according to a company’s press release published by PRNewswire.
“Ukraine continues to be important in Eastern Europe’s clinical trial market and our Kyiv depot will strengthen our position in the region,” Marken President Ariette van Strien said.
Marken’s depots include space for pallet storage and a full range of temperature-controlled storage options including refrigerators and freezers, the press release said.
Marken is a wholly owned subsidiary of the UPS Healthcare division. The company has a network of 56 depots for pharmaceutical products and biological samples around the world.
The European Investment Bank (EIB) will allocate EUR 270 million to the state-owned enterprise Boryspil International Airport for the implementation of an investment plan to improve infrastructure and expand capacity.
According to a posting on the bank’s website, the board of directors approved the project on December 16 this year.
The EIB document states that the total cost of this project is approximately EUR 351 million, but other sources of co-financing are not specified.
According to the financial institution, this operation is covered by the EU guarantee for EIB loans outside the EU, and the organizer of the work must ensure that any procurement procedures are carried out in accordance with the EIB procurement guidelines and EU public procurement rules.
“Major works include the rehabilitation of the western airfield system, including the western runway (18R-36L), which has been operating for more than 50 years and is in poor condition, the associated parallel taxiway, the airfield ground lighting and the instrument landing systems, plus a range of other associated airside infrastructure works,” the bank said on its website.
As reported, earlier the Ministry of Infrastructure offered the EBRD to participate in financing the Boryspil airport investment plan.
