The volume of sales of companies operating in the service sector of Ukraine in the fourth quarter of 2020 amounted to UAH 264.2 billion, which in comparable prices was 10.4% higher than the level of the fourth quarter of 2019, the State Statistics Service has said.
According to the report, the volume of services provided to the population amounted to 17.4% of the total volume of services provided in the country (UAH 46.05 billion).
The State Statistics Service reminded that in the fourth quarter of 2020 the volume of service provided by companies grew by 10.9% compared with the previous quarter.
Clear Energy Group plans to launch the fourteenth biogas plant for the group this month, the group’s CEO, Andriy Hrinenko, has said.
“We have built 14 landfill stations on landfill gas. These are, in particular, Kharkiv, Bila Tserkva, Kryvy Rih, Kherson, Ivano-Frankivsk, Kremenchuk, Lutsk, Chernihiv, Poltava. In March, we are launching a biogas station in Ternopil,” he said in interview to the online portal Energy Reform.
Thus, the total capacity of all biogas plants of the group will be 15.1 MW, which is 75% of the entire market for electricity generation from landfill gas in Ukraine.
According to Hrinenko, the group sees great prospects in the development of landfills for the production of electricity and heat, and the decision to work in this area was made several years ago, based on the fact that the market for processing solid household waste remained underestimated.
“Now in Ukraine, 10 million tonnes of household waste is produced annually. This is gold under our feet, which we do not use. It can give 1.2 billion kWh of electricity and 3.5 million Gcal of thermal energy per year if properly utilized. We can also generate one billion cubic meters of biogas from this waste,” he explained.
At the same time, Hrinenko noted that the development of this sector needs to be streamlined at the legislative level, for which the group has developed a bill on energy waste disposal, the adoption of which will be sought in the Verkhovna Rada after the presentation to the mayors of the cities.
“Firstly, we want to achieve the same protected cost item for utilities for paying for heat generated from waste as they have for paying for gas. Secondly, we do not ask for any inflated tariffs. We want to sell electricity at the day ahead market price, but give the basic rules,” he defined the main points of the bill.
The Ministry of Digital Transformation of Ukraine intends to resolve the issue of launching the U.S. payment system PayPal in Ukraine.
“We have been communicating with PayPal for a year now. A meeting with our team was held in Davos. We are holding Zoom meetings. There are certain questions. Ukraine, in principle, was not present on the PayPal expansion business map. I don’t want to make spoilers, but we are working on it. We ask the CEO of PayPal questions even in social networks in comments,” Deputy Prime Minister of Ukraine, Minister of Digital Transformation Mykhailo Fedorov said in the format of an Internet reception desk live on YouTube on Tuesday.
He said that PayPal shall enter Ukraine, and the Ministry of Digital Industry plans to definitely resolve this issue.
Chinese buyers of shares in Motor Sich (Zaporizhia) violated their obligation to invest $250 million in 2018 and obtain permission from the Antimonopoly Committee of Ukraine (AMCU), but it is impractical to completely nationalize the enterprise and it is worth leaving 35% to the Chinese and the controlling stake to the state, President of Motor Sich Viacheslav Bohuslayev has said.
“They deceived us… There are no Chinese investors and there is no investment program. There are promises: in the agreement for the acquisition of shares in 2018, they [should have paid] $250 million – not a kopiika [was seen],” journalist Igor Solovey posted a video on his Facebook with a speech of Bohuslayev at a meeting of the national security, defense and intelligence parliamentary committee on March 4.
Bohuslayev said that in such a situation he and the trade union support the decision of the country’s president to impose sanctions against the Chinese shareholders of Motor Sich.
“I hold daily teleconferences with Chinese customers. I explain to them: if I, Bohuslayev, violate Chinese laws on the territory of China, what would you do to me? So your dear Wang Jing [was sanctioned by Ukraine] should not violate Ukrainian laws on the territory of Ukraine,” the president of the company said.
He confirmed that in 2016, Chinese partners provided a $100 million loan at a critical juncture, which must be repaid in 2026, and the company is preparing to do so.
At the same time, Bohuslayev, who before the deal with the Chinese was one of the largest shareholders of Motor Sich, after the committee meeting spoke out against the proposal to completely nationalize the enterprise, as this would entail significant budgetary expenditures.
“We need to negotiate with the Chinese: allow them to have 35%, the rest needs to be sold to the state, in a civilized manner. The ambassador must be explained (that) our state does not allow a foreign citizen to manage our enterprise,” he said, while insisting that a controlling stake belonged to the government.
“You can’t just break off relations with Chinese friends… For no reason in particular, (so that) we don’t give a damn about China, it is better not to behave like that,” Bohuslayev said.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine is preparing changes to the diplomatic buses use rules, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba has said.
“On my behalf, changes are already being made to the diplomatic buses use rules. We are considering various options. This is the possibility of sealing buses, tracking their movement, fixing a clear description of what is on board of such a bus,” Kuleba said at an online briefing on Friday.
He said that now the new rules are being developed by lawyers.
“We will do everything to ensure that our diplomatic transport is used exclusively for its intended purpose. I cannot guarantee the integrity of each of 2,000 employees of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, but I assure that everyone who behaves like a dishonest person will be responsible for this,” the minister said.
The head of the ministry also said that the anti-corruption risk of using the vehicles of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs will be increased from medium to high. “In the new anti-corruption strategy, this problem will receive the most careful attention. Within the framework of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, we will increase the responsibility not only of those people who can be “caught hot,” but also of their superiors for such cases,” he said.
Kuleba also said that the employees of the Ukrainian Embassy in Poland, involved in the attempt to smuggle goods across the border, were fired from the embassy. “I have already informed that both employees who were on this bus have been dismissed from the Ukrainian Embassy in Poland. Their work at the embassy has ended. Now, in accordance with the current legislation, disciplinary investigation into their actions is ongoing, and based on the results of this investigation, I will be ready make the toughest decisions,” he said.
The minister also said that the Foreign Ministry will be absolutely open to interaction with law enforcement agencies and will help them find out all the circumstances of this case and conduct an investigation as much as possible.
“No one has the right to cast a shadow on thousands of Ukrainian diplomats who honestly and diligently work to protect Ukrainian interests, the interests of Ukrainian business, Ukrainian citizens in the world,” Kuleba said, pointing out that everyone who tries to cast such a shadow will be announced persona non grata in Ukrainian diplomacy.
As reported, in the morning on March 1, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine recalled two current employees of the Ukrainian Embassy in Poland, who were involved in an attempt to smuggle goods across the border.
JSC Ukrzaliznytsia and the project company of the Qatari port operator QTerminals W.L.L. – LLC QTerminals have agreed to cooperate within the framework of the concession of the specialized seaport Olvia (Mykolaiv), the website of the Ministry of Infrastructure of Ukraine reported on Friday.
Cooperation of the parties will be aimed at the implementation of unimpeded and regular rail transportation on the territory of Mykolaiv and their further development.
As reported earlier, representatives of Ukraine and Qatar discussed the implementation of the Olvia port concession agreement by the Qatari company QTerminals.
Ukroboronservis and Qatari’s QTerminals will also cooperate under the Olvia seaport concession.
The contract for the concession of the specialized sea port Olvia (Mykolaiv) was signed by the Ministry of Infrastructure and QTerminals W.L.L. August 20, 2020.
The concessionaire of the port of Olvia, the Qterminals company, plans to create an export grain hub on its basis.
The company plans in 2020 to invest $9.2 million in planning and designing new terminals, obtaining the necessary documents, and beginning infrastructural modernization. In 2021, the company plans to invest $31.3 million, including in new cranes, storage infrastructure and berthing facilities. In general, the Qatari company intends to invest $142 million in this project by 2024.
