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.
Etalon Corporation, one of the leading Ukrainian vehicle manufacturers, in 2021 introduces to the market a tram car of its own design TR 3100 based on the overhauled Czech tram Tatra T3, with the replacement of the bodywork with a new one on the basis of Tatra wheel bogies, Director General of Chernihiv Automobile Plant Andriy Savchenko said.
“The first sample has already been manufactured, it has advantages over competitors, it can be offered in several versions. Taking into account the fact that 14 Ukrainian cities have tram lines, and the depreciation of the rolling stock is more than 90%, we hope that the project will be successful. In early 2021 we will conduct final tests, and we are already negotiating the purchase with tram depots, ” Savchenko said at a press conference in Kyiv on Wednesday.
According to the information in the video presentation of the tram, released at the press conference, the model is offered in three versions, with the manufacture of a new bodywork with modern equipment and overhaul of bogies; with a new bodywork, equipment and purchase of new bogies; production of only the bodywork with varying degrees of equipment.
“Among tram depots, such a tram is relevant due to the depreciation of the fleet, its technological backwardness and high energy consumption, and the cost of a new tram is three times higher than that of an overhaul,” the presentation said.
The tram is almost 16 meters long, with a gross weight of 32 tonnes, and has a low floor area (in the middle of the cabin) with the possibility of wheelchair access. Traction drive is manufactured by the Informbusiness company (Moldova) with the ability to disconnect one of the bogies.
“Today Kyiv, Odesa, Zaporizhia and Vinnytsia are engaged in overhaul of trams in Ukraine. Dnipro purchases trams abroad and brings them here. And similar to our trams are made by the Polytechnoservice company, i.e. a new bodywork on overhauled bogies,” Savchenko said.
He did not disclose the price of the tram.
The corporation also presented a new fully low-floor trolleybus of a large class (12 meters) with an autonomous run of 20 km and dynamic recharging, with an asynchronous electric motor from a Latvian manufacturer (Riga Electric Machine Building Works), a traction drive and an autonomous running system of the Informbusiness company.
“Yes, we have abandoned traction motors produced by our Electrotyazhmash and switched to Riga ones, and as far as I know, our other manufacturers are also switching to them. They are much better [in quality] and the manufacturer provides a system of discounts,” Savchenko said.
At present, the design documentation has already been developed and the first sample has been manufactured.
Etalon Corporation unites 21 enterprises, including two automobile plants (in Boryspil and Chernihiv), as well as the Ukrainian Cardan plant, which produces cardan shafts, and Chernihiv Forging Plant. The main activity is bus and machine building, warehouse logistics.
Biopharmaceutical company Biopharma (Kyiv) plans to invest from $20 million to $23 million in the development of a network of plasma centers by 2025, Biopharma President Kostiantyn Yefymenko said.
“We plan to invest about $15 million in the next three years (in 2021, 2022 and 2023) in the development of blood plasma processing facilities at our site in Bila Tserkva. And we plan to invest in plasma centers during this time about $20-23 million by 2025,” he said in an interview with Interfax-Ukraine.
Yefymenko said that the company already has seven plasma centers, including in Cherkasy, Kyiv, Kharkiv, Dnipro, Konotop, Shostka and Sumy.
In 2021, Biopharma plans to build four more plasma centers in Kamianske, Mykolaiv and Poltava.
“As for the fourth plasma center […] we are now thinking whether it will be Kryvy Rih or Kherson. We intend to build plasma centers and blood centers in every regional center of Ukraine in five years,” Yefymenko said.
Average monthly wage by region in Oct 2020, UAH.
PJSC Ukrhydroenergo began start-up operations at the hydroelectric unit four of the Dnistrovska pumped storage power plant (PSPP) on December 22 and plans to complete the work on launching the unit in summer 2021, the company has said.
“The launch took place as usual, and all systems worked in accordance with the program. Absolutely all parameters of the hydraulic unit, temperature and vibration modes are normal. This is just the beginning of a whole stage of important work, which we plan to complete in six months and put the hydraulic unit into commercial operation,” Chief Engineer of Ukrhydroenergo Vadym Rassovsky said.
Earlier, the head of the company, Ihor Syrota, announced his intention to put hydroelectric unit four of Dnistrovska PSPP into industrial operation in the first quarter of 2021
Preparatory work for the construction of Dnistrovska PSPP began back in 1983, the first unit was launched in 2009, the second in 2013, and the third in 2015. The capacity of unit four will be 324 MW in generator mode and 421 MW in pumping mode.
A total of seven hydroelectric units with a total capacity of 2,268 MW (324 MW each) in generator mode and 2,947 MW (421 MW each) in pumping mode are planned to be built at the PSPP.
Ukrhydroenergo operates all large hydroelectric power plants located on the Ukrainian sections of the Dnipro and Dniester Rivers. The total installed electric capacity of the hydroelectric power plants of the generating company is 5,744.8 MW. The state represented by the Ministry of Energy of Ukraine fully owns the company’s shares.
The test systems that are used in Ukraine can detect a mutated strain of coronavirus, which was recorded in the UK, Ukrainian Health Minister Maksym Stepanov told reporters on Thursday.
“The complexity of the situation with the mutated strain of coronavirus in the UK is that, according to preliminary data, it is 70% more infectious. At the same time, they have no evidence that it causes more complications, more severe disease or increased mortality. We increased control. Our test systems are able to detect this strain,” he said.
The minister noted that no cases of the mutated strain of coronavirus have been registered in Ukraine yet.
“We have a small number of flights from the UK. Basically, our citizens, who work there or study, come. We do not consider it necessary to close air traffic and then send planes to pick up our citizens,” Stepanov added.
