KYIV. Jan 15 (Interfax-Ukraine) – Top managers of Sumy Regional Administration have reached an agreement with investors from Azerbaijan on opening a soybean plant with a crushing capacity of 220,000-250,000 tonnes in Romny district and investment of up to $22 million, Sumy Regional Administration Head Mykola Klochko has said.
“In addition, it is planned to launch the first phase of alternative fuel plant, particularly, bioethanol, on the basis of the former Velyko-Zhovtnevy sugar refinery in Bilopillia district in 2016. Investment in the plant is up to $30 million,” the regional administration reported on its website, citing Klochko.
He said that he is confident about these projects as they have concrete agreements.
He said that it is planned to create over 200 jobs at the initial stage of the soybean plant.
Other details on investors are not given.
KYIV. Jan 15 (Interfax-Ukraine) – The program of the socio-economic development of Kyiv for 2016 provides for the allocation of UAH 879.5 million to Kyiv Metropoliten for building the fourth subway line from Velyka Kiltseva Street to the Troyeschyna residential area.
According to the report published in the Khreschatyk newspaper, the program of socio-economic development foresees the completion of building the fourth line of the Kyiv subway by December 2020, and the total cost of the project is UAH 6.903 billion. At the same time, as of the beginning of January 2016 investment in the project amounted to UAH 48.097 million.
In addition, the program foresees funding in the amount of UAH 112.064 million for chemical grouting on some sections of the Kyiv subway lines in 2016.
The total capital expenditure of the company in 2016 under the program will stand at UAH 1.017 billion, including UAH 68.019 million from the special fund of the city budget and UAH 949.145 million at the expense of its own and borrowed funds.
According to the report, the program provides for financing in the amount of UAH 156.881 million for Kyivpastrans. Among the largest projects of the company for 2016 is the reconstruction of tram tracks and stations, as well as procurement of trams.
The Ukrainian business sector has repeatedly stressed that only systematic, targeted and, most importantly, efficient performance of the executive agencies could be the key to any high-quality transformation. This process should be closely monitored, according to the Anti-Crisis Council of NGOs and its member, the Ukrainian Association for Quality. The Association has recently conducted a professional analysis of the performance of the Ukrainian Ministry for Economic Development and Trade, which is one of the major regulators in the industry and economy in general, and revealed a chain of inefficient operations.
The situation with management of other central executive agencies is similar, the experts claim, and therefore they suggest that the Anti-Crisis Council of NGOs as the largest association of business organizations could analyze the government’s performance without limiting itself to individual ministries.
“We have to understand that nobody will do our “home task” instead of us, and the list of the tasks includes the fight against corruption, deregulation of businesses, the introduction of technical regulations and standards in line with European ones, modernization of enterprises, and a reduction in energy consumption in the industry as well. This cannot happen without effective public administration, at least to the degree that is sufficient to make Ukrainian producers and the economy competitive and prosperous,” President of the Ukrainian League of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs and Chairman of the Anti-Crisis Council of NGOs Anatoliy Kinakh said.
“They should examine the efficiency of management systems in the executive branch in general and systems of quality management in particular. For example, performance, operation and services provided by the Economic Development and Trade Ministry, including processing of correspondence and proposals by NGOs and businesses, do not meet modern requirements, existing standards and are of poor quality,” President of the Ukrainian Association for Quality Petro Kalyta said.
It must be noted that the business sector has repeatedly pointed out that only improvement in public administration, consistency of measures to develop the economy, industry, agriculture and other spheres of public life and entrepreneurship will allow the country not only to survive the crisis with dignity, but become a modern and strong economy.
The Ukrainian Association for Quality is ready to share its reports and provide professional consultations. Such examination is made not only to conduct a SWOT analysis of strengths and weaknesses, but also to determine immediate steps to solve the problem. For example, it is proposed that ministries’ personnel should undergo additional training with the involvement of external professional organizations and professionals to introduce European quality and excellence models, namely the EFQM Excellence Model, the Common Assessment Framework (CAF), etc., which could be utilized both for work of the executive agencies and for reforms being implemented in the country as well.
The experts advise that the concept of public policy in the field of business excellence of enterprises should be adopted as soon as possible along with measures aimed at closer cooperation between the government, society, businesses, top managers, and corporate personnel.
KYIV. Jan 14 (Interfax-Ukraine) – Public joint-stock company Ukrtransnafta will modernize the Druzhba trunk oil pipeline in 2016 and will replace 68 kilometers of pipes as they are deteriorated, the company’s press service has reported.
The press service said that the replacement of pipes is the optimal option for providing reliable oil transit to Europe via Ukraine.
The approximate cost of the project would be UAH 650 million. It is also planned to replace four oil pumps and nine electric engines.
As reported, Ukrtransnafta Director General Mykola Havrylenko said in an interview with Interfax-Ukraine that the company would retain the oil transit volume via Ukraine at slightly over 15 million tonnes in 2015, which is the same as in 2014.
The operator of Ukraine’s oil transportation system is Ukrtransnafta, which is 100% managed by Naftogaz Ukrainy.
KYIV. Jan 14 (Interfax-Ukraine) – DTEK in 2015 sent UAH 1.5 billion to the thermal power plants (TPP) repair campaign, the press service of the energy holding reported on Wednesday.
The press service said that DTEK finished 65 out of 66 repair actions, including four overhauls, five repair actions and 56 maintenance repair actions. A total of 55 power units, three turbines and seven boilers were repaired. Repair of power unit four of Zuyivska TPP was not carried out, as national energy company Ukrenergo has not agreed the application for putting the unit out of service for repair.
“DTEK’s TPPs are stably loaded: repair of equipment was finished, all DTEK’s TPPs received acts that they are ready to cope with autumn and winter peaks,” the company said.
As of January 11, 2016, coal stocks at DTEK TPPs’ warehouses were 1.55 million tonnes, which is 77% up year-over-year. Gas coal stocks were 1.13 million tonnes, anthracite and short-flame coal stocks were 420,000 tonnes. Supplies of anthracite and gas coal are stable.
DTEK said that the debt of state enterprise Energomarket for electricity transmitted by all DTEK’s TPPs reached UAH 4.7 billion as of January 1, 2016. The debt grew by 12.2% year-over-year.
Three out of five heating generation companies are under the control of Akhmetov’s DTEK – Skhidenergo (100%), Dniproenergo (72.9%) and Zakhidenergo (72.2%).
DTEK was established in 2005 to manage the energy assets of the System Capital Management group, owned by businessman Rinat Akhmetov. DTEK is a vertically integrated company involved in the production and enrichment of coal, and the generation and sale of electricity.
KYIV. Jan 14 (Interfax-Ukraine) – The National Commission for Securities and the Stock Market of Ukraine at a meeting on January 12 permitted Dragon Capital LLC to acquire a large stake in public joint-stock company Ukrainian Exchange (Kyiv).
The commission said that Dragon Capital CEO Tomas Fiala and Conebond Limited also received the permits to acquire shares in Ukrainian Exchange.
The commission permitted Dragon Capital LLC, Conebond Limited and Fiala to acquire a large stake in Dragon Capital LLC JV, a professional stock market player.
As reported, on November 27, 2015, the National Commission for Securities and the Stock Market permitted Teta Partners Ltd. affiliated with Univer Capital (Kyiv) to indirectly acquire shares in Ukrainian Exchange. 100% in Ukrainian Exchange Holding which holds 20.64% in Ukrainian Exchange will be bought. In addition, Univer Capital plans to acquire slightly over 2% of shares in Ukrainian Exchange. Thus, the group will hold around 23% of shares in the exchange.
