KYIV. April 24 (Interfax-Ukraine) – The Chinese government expresses its readiness to introduce a visa-free regime with Ukraine on the basis of the will of the two countries, Chinese Ambassador to Ukraine Du Wei has said.
“The Chinese side is ready at any time, in accordance with the readiness of the two sides, on the principle of equality and mutual benefit, to take new measures for the exchange of people between our countries, including a visa-free regime,” he said at a press conference on the occasion of the 25th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between Ukraine and China in Kyiv on Friday.
The diplomat also said that the Chinese side welcomes the decision of the European Union to liberalize the visa regime with Ukraine.
KYIV. April 24 (Interfax-Ukraine) – DTEK Energo has started reconstruction of unit 10 of Burshtyn thermal power plant (TPP) for UAH 1.1 billion (around $40 million), the company’s press service has reported.
By December 2017 it is planned to replace aggregates and upgrade the unit’s systems, which would allow improving its production and environment friendly characteristics.
A turbine, a boiler drum, a transformer for own needs, turbine generator excitation systems will be replaced and the generator, coal pulverization systems and other equipment will be completely reconstructed. Emission will be reduced thanks to the replacement of the filter.
Reconstruction would allow increasing the capacity of the unit from 195 MW to 210 MW. Its lifespan would be extended to 15 years. Emission will be reduced to 50 mg per cubic meter, which suits European standards.
DTEK said that early June reconstruction of unit 1 of Kryvy Rih TPP will be finished. Reconstruction of unit 10 of Burshtyn TPP will be third project for this plant. Since 2012, DTEK has invested over $180 million in overhaul and upgrade of equipment at the units of this TPP.
KYIV. April 24 (Interfax-Ukraine) – Weidmann Malyn paper factory (MPF, Zhytomyr region), the producer of electrical insulating board for power engineering machines in Ukraine, saw a 4.3-fold rise in net profit in 2016, reaching UAH 36.06 million.
According to a company report, net revenue grew by 23%, to UAH 511.04 million.
The factor saw UAH 107.52 million of gross profit (UAH 98.25 million a year ago), while its operating profit fell by 6.7%, to UAH 63.44 million.
As reported, in 2015 the company saw UAH 8.45 million of net profit compared to UAH 41.13 million of net loss in 2014.
According to the report, in 2016 the factor sold over 4,000 tonnes of paper for UAH 193.63 million and 5,750 tonnes of cardboard for UAH 282.19 million.
Some 30% of electrical insulating paper and crepe paper was sold in Ukraine, 20% in the CIS and 40% in other countries.
The key rivals in production of these types of paper are Russia’s Segezha pulp and paper mill and Energia LLC.
Transformer board was mainly sold in non-CIS countries (50%), as well as in Ukraine (20%) and CIS countries. The key rivals are Russian, Turkish and German companies.
MPF Weidmann is a member of the WICOR international group, the only company in Eastern Europe that can supply almost all kinds of electrical insulating paper and cardboard meeting regional and international standards.
KYIV. April 24 (Interfax-Ukraine) – SCM Group owner Rinat Akhmetov remains the richest Ukrainian in 2016 according to the Focus magazine, with fortune of $2.2 billion.
According to the list, co-owners of the Privat Bank Ihor Kolomoisky and Hennadiy Boholiubov (with $1.2 billion each) are second and third on the list and owner of EastOne Victor Pinchuk with $1.1 billion was fourth, the same as in 2015.
Owner of Kernel Group Andriy Verevsky with $871 million fortune climbed from 10th position to fifth in 2016 and owner of Myronivsky Hliboproduct Yuriy Kosiuk with $738 million who was fifth earlier is not sixth.
Owner of DCH Group Oleksandr Yaroslavsky with $734 million dropped from sixth to seventh position and owner of Ferrexpo Kostiantyn Zhevaho climbed from 18th to eighth with $625 million.
Owner of Group DF Dmytro Firtash with $623 million is still ninth, and Ukrainian President and owner of Roshen Petro Poroshenko declined from eighth to 10th position with $589 million.
New persons placed on the list were co-owner of Inter TV channel Valeriy Khoroshkovsky (20th with $356 million), Board Chairman of MCG Pavlo Fuks (24th with $270), owner and president of Prometey Group Rafael Goroyan (65th with $90 million), co-owner of IMEXBANK Leonid Klimov (71st with $75 million), Oleksandr Tabalov who headed Formula Smaku (74th with $69 million), largest shareholder of NKMZ Heorhiy Skudar (79th with $63 million), head and co-owner of Kriukov Car Building Works Volodymyr Prykhodko (83rd with $62 million).
The new persons were also ex co-owner of Skymall Andriy Adamovsky, owner of Biosphere company Andriy Zdesenko, President of Kovalska Group Oleksandr Pylypenko, Head of Atoll Holding Oleh Boyariv, co-owner of Nemiroff Yakiv Hryb and Anatoliy Kipish, founder of Agrospetsservice Serhiy Tarasov, Head of LNZ Group Dmytro Kravchenko and Head of Rud Petro Rud.
KYIV. April 21 (Interfax-Ukraine) – Former co-host of MythBusters television show Jamie Hyneman believes that technology is a universal language, but it should be treated with respect.
“Technology is a kind of a universal language… I am somewhat of a critic of all the smart phones and everybody keeping tabs on them all the time and not existing in the real world. But it also seems to be that culture and technology are diffusing through and being communicated around the world,” he said at a press conference at Interfax-Ukraine on Friday.
Hyneman noted that there has been a growing public interest to science in the last decade. But he does not think that MythBusters should take credit for this. The TV show rather was very fortunate to appear in the right time and take advantage of this surge of interest, he said.
According to him, such an increase in interest in science could be caused in part by the spread of the active use of the Internet and thus the availability of information.
The former co-host of MythBusters said people should not to be afraid of technology, but should treat it with respect.
“I don’t think that we should be afraid of technology, we should embrace it, but treat it with respect and with careful thought,” Hyneman said.
On April 22, Hyneman will be a member of the panel of judges of the engineering startup competition, the Vernadsky Challenge, in Dnipro.
The Vernadsky Challenge competition has been held since 2015. It allows talented engineers and inventors to present their projects and compete for a UAH 2 million grant. Over the 3-year history of the Vernadsky Challenge, 576 startups have participated in the event and the winners have received a total of UAH 3 million in grant funding.
Vernadsky Challenge 2017 has attracted applications from 230 startups. The panel of judges is headed by competition founders Dmitry Sholomko, Google Ukraine director, and Noosphere Ventures founder Max Polyakov.
KYIV. April 21 (Interfax-Ukraine) – China Harbour Engineering company Ltd. has won an open tender to implement the first stage of the project to reconstruct the marine approach canal and internal water approach canals to deep-water berths of Yuzhny maritime merchandise port (Odesa region), offering the service for UAH 1.065 billion with the expected price of UAH 1.197 billion.
According to the tender results announced on Thursday, the initial price of the company was the smallest (the closest rival Novadeal, the subsidiary of Belgium’s DEME Group it was UAH 1.179 billion). The price did not change during the tender.
Boskalis International B.V. (the Netherlands) took part in the tender. The company cut the price from UAH 1.197 billion to UAH 1.178 billion. The final offer of Jan De Nul N.V. (the subsidiary of Belgium’s DEME Group) was UAH 1.113 billion. Van Oord Ukraine (representative office of Van Oord Dredging and Marine Contractors B.V., the Netherlands) had the final offer of UAH 1.179 billion. Novadeal did not change its offer during the tender.
As reported, Ukraine’s Cabinet of Ministers on April 19 approved a project on reconstruction of water approach canals and operation zones near berths, taking into account the promising cargo turnover at Yuzhny maritime merchandise port. The total estimated cost of the project in the prices as of October 27, 2016 is UAH 4.183 billion. It will take three years and two months to finish the project. The project would have four stages.
