Using the services of the British purchasing agency Crown Agents allowed the Ministry of Health of Ukraine to save more than $62 million, or 40% of the budget funds, in five years.
This is stated in a study conducted by Crown Agents and the Center for the Study of Corruption at the University of Sussex.
According to the study, in the first year of Crown Agents’ cooperation with the Ministry of Health, more than 75% of medicines were purchased at a lower cost than in the previous year.
“The overall amount lost to corrupt practices in healthcare is estimated to be around $500 billion annually, and procurement is the biggest risk area,” Liz David-Barrett, the director of the Center for the Study of Corruption at the University of Sussex, said.
“COVID-19 has provided a window of opportunity to tackle corrupt procurement practices in healthcare systems across the world,” she said.
RETAIL TURNOVER IN UKRAINE BY REGIONS IN JAN-APR 2021 (UAH MLN)
In March 2021, mobile operator lifecell expanded its 4G network coverage in 661 more settlements of Ukraine with a population of more than 358,000 people.
According to the operator’s statement on Wednesday, in particular, in March the lifecell network was expanded in 655 towns with a population of up to 5,000 people and in six cities with a population of up to 25,000 people in different regions of Ukraine.
The operator also analyzed the consumption of data traffic in March: lifecell subscribers using 4G consumed 82% more mobile Internet traffic compared to the same period in 2020.
At the same time, the total volume of used data traffic in the operator’s network in March increased by 49% on an annual basis.
“One of the main reasons for the traffic growth is the expansion of coverage in the 900 MHz range, which became possible after the operators carried out refarming of the radio frequency spectrum in this range. This made it possible for residents of rural areas and small towns to use high-speed mobile Internet,” lifecell said.
Kyiv became the leader among settlements in terms of consumption of mobile Internet traffic in March in the category of cities with a population of more than 1 million, and then it is followed by Odesa, Kharkiv and Dnipro.
In cities with a population of up to 1 million people, Lviv is in the lead, and with a population of up to 500,000 people – Cherkasy.
The number of voice calls did not change compared to March 2020.
The French concern Alstom welcomes the ratification of an intergovernmental agreement between France and Ukraine on financing the supply of 130 heavy-duty electric locomotives for Ukrzaliznytsia, the company’s press service has said.
“The next important step is the signing of commercial agreements in the second half of 2021,” the company said.
According to the press release, this will allow Alstom to begin supplying locomotives to the Ukrainian market, which will also provide for 35% localization associated with the production and maintenance of electric locomotives.
As reported, Ukraine and France in May signed an intergovernmental agreement on financing the supply by Alstom of 130 heavy-duty electric locomotives for Ukrzaliznytsia for up to EUR 900 million.
This agreement was ratified by the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine on July 1, 2021.
Alstom is one of the world leaders (along with Siemens and Bombardier) in the production of power equipment and railway transport. It operates in more than 70 countries and employs about 70,000 people.
In June 2021, some 21,113 flights were performed in the airspace of Ukraine, which is 59.6% of the June volume of flights in the pre-crisis 2019, the press service of the State Air Traffic Service Enterprise (UkSATSE) said on Wednesday.
According to UkSATSE, the absolute value of the number of flights in May of this year increased, the dynamics can also be called positive – the indicators for May were less: 56.6% of the number of flights in the same period of 2019.
According to UkSATSE, the increase in the intensity of flights is due to the beginning of the tourist season, the gradual opening of the borders of foreign countries, the restoration of a number of international flights to Europe suspended due to the pandemic, and the entry of new air carriers into the Ukrainian aviation market.
“An important impetus for the revitalization of transit in the Ukrainian sky was also the revision of the rates for air navigation services over the Black Sea. New air navigation rates began to operate on June 1 of this year, at which the cost of a 100 km flight is EUR 25 instead of EUR 51.1. First of all, Ukrainian airlines revised their plans of flights in the southern and southeastern directions with Ukraine and resumed flights in the Simferopol flight information region,” the press service quoted head of UkSATSE Andriy Yarmak as saying.
He also said that UkSATSE is actively working to attract foreign carriers to operate flights in this part of the Ukrainian airspace.
Ukrainian airlines performed 8,953 flights in June 2021 (20% less compared to June 2019), foreign airlines performed 12,160 flights (49.8% less).
Ukraine in August 2021 may receive trains to test the work of the Kyiv City Express project.
“The first project will be Kyiv City Express. It is already working. Now we are launching, we are looking at it in a test mode. We will receive several trains for testing. I hope that it will be in August this year. And, accordingly, we will start working this year as well,” the deputy head of the President’s Office, the coordinator of the Big Construction program, Kyrylo Tymoshenko, said during the Ukraine 30 forum.
According to him, the rolling stock of suburban trains in Ukraine has practically never been updated, with the exception of several reconstructions.
“Now we are cooperating with several well-known world companies, specifically dealing with City Express projects, and are launching them in Kyiv, Kharkiv and Dnipro. These are the three largest agglomerations around these cities,” Tymoshenko stressed.
As reported, the Swiss company Stadler has chosen a location for the deployment of a plant for the production of electric trains in Ukraine. This year it will hand over one or two trains for testing.
