KYIV. Jan 18 (Interfax-Ukraine) – Ukraine’s Verkhovna Rada has passed at first reading a bill amending the Merchant Shipping Code of Ukraine. The document would contribute to development of ship navigation in Ukraine and cargo shipment by rivers.
A total of 234 lawmakers backed bill No. 2712 on Tuesday.
The document is intended to provide for government support of ship navigation, expansion of tonnage of the navy under the flag of Ukraine, attraction of investment in the navigation business and help to improve investment climate in the country.
According to an explanatory note to the bill, the Merchant Shipping Code of Ukraine was approved in 1995. After analyzing its provisions it was established that some of them have become out of date and not efficient. They do not suit the economic develop and do not help to develop ship navigation in the country.
According to Article 32 of the Code, the right of navigation under the state flag of Ukraine is given to a vessel being the state property or in the ownership of a person who is citizen of Ukraine, or resident company. Article 131 sets a restriction for coastwise transportation for vessels under foreign flags. They can navigate between ports of Ukraine only if they have permits from Ukraine’s Infrastructure Ministry.
“It is clear that the current requirements create a serious obstacle not only for attracting foreign investors to the Ukrainian ship navigation market, but also for ship owners who often are interested in full or partial attraction of foreign partners,” reads the explanatory note.
In practice the above-mentioned restrictions result in bringing the navigation market to the shadows, as ship owners have to select flags of the states for their ships that have more flexible legislation. This creates additional difficulties for ship owners and affects the Ukrainian economy in general, as this is the outflow of money outside the country.
According to the note, from year to year the number of ships under the flag of Ukraine is falling. In 1991 there were 375 ships with deadweight of 5,000 tonnes and more, in 2000 – 155, 2005 – 91, 2008 – 75, 2012 – 60 and 2014 – 46, while over 200 medium and large ships belonged to Ukrainian companies are operating under foreign flags.
The adoption of the bill would help to settle the issue of providing the right to navigate under the flag of Ukraine to ships that belonged to companies created with the participation of foreign capital. The bill would permit coastwise transportation to foreign ships. These steps would help to attract foreign investment to the development of ship navigation in Ukraine.
KYIV. Jan 18 (Interfax-Ukraine) – Ukraine’s State Agency for Managing Chornobyl Exclusion Zone had received 39 applications for the allocation of land parcels to build solar power plants in the Chornobyl zone as of January 1, 2017, Ecology and Natural Resources Minister of Ukraine Ostap Semerak has said.
“On January 1, 2017, the first stage of collecting applications for the implementation of the projects finished. We received 39 applications from companies asking to localize the projects,” he wrote on his Facebook page.
As reported, the State Agency for Managing Chornobyl Exclusion Zone extended a deadline of submitting bids for the allocation of land parcels to build solar power plants in the Chornobyl zone until March 1, 2017.
The total area earmarked for construction of solar power plants is 1,172 ha.
Around 2 ha are required to build a solar power plant with the projected capacity of 1 MW.
KYIV. Jan 18 (Interfax-Ukraine) – Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko discussed prospects of developing cooperation and introduction of investment projects in Ukraine with President of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) Suma Chakrabarti in Davos (Switzerland).
“The head of state expressed hope that the EBRD would increase financing for cooperation with Ukraine in 2017,” the Ukrainian president’s press service reported on Tuesday.
The parties also discussed the banking sector reform.
“Chakrabarti praised Ukrainian authorities’ effort in the issue of nationalization of PrivatBank and confirmed the EBRD’s intention to further provide expert assistance in the reformation of this banking institution,” the press service said.
Poroshenko pointed out the key role of the EBRD as the manager of the Chornobyl Shelter Fund and the Nuclear Safety Account. It was agreed to continue cooperation in the area.
The EBRD president assured the Ukrainian president that the EBRD will continue supporting reforms in Ukraine.
KYIV. Jan 17 (Interfax-Ukraine) – Grain harvest in Ukraine 2016 has broken a record being 66 million tonnes (in standard weight) and it was 5.9 million tonnes more than in 2015.
Ukraine’s Agricultural Policy and Food Ministry reported that in 2016 grain yield records were hit: wheat – 42.1 centners per ha, rye – 27.3 centners per ha, corn – 66 centners per ha and peas – 31.3 centners per ha.
In general last year Ukraine threshed 26 million tonnes of wheat, around 28 million tonnes of corn, 9.4 million tonnes of barley, 391,500 tonnes of rye, 499,000 tonnes of oats, 176,400 tonnes of buckwheat, 745,600 tonnes of peas and 64,800 tonnes of rice.
Average yield of grain crops was 46.1 centners per ha.
The country also harvested 13.9 million tonnes of sugar beets (the yield is 482.4 centners per ha), 13.6 million tonnes of sunflower seeds (22.4 centners per ha), 4.3 million tonnes of soybeans (23.1 centners per ha), 20.9 million tonnes of potatoes (160.7 centners per ha), 9 million tonnes of vegetables (208.2 centners per ha) and 400,000 tonnes of grapes (95.7 centners per ha).
KYIV. Jan 17 (Interfax-Ukraine) – The Antimonopoly Committee of Ukraine (AMC) has allowed Prydniprovsky oil extraction plant (Kropyvnytsky) to gain control over the oil extraction plant by purchasing production equipment from PJSC Zinkiv-Agrotrans (Poltava region).
According to the unified state register of legal entities and individuals, the owner of Prydniprovsky oil extraction plant is Andriy Verevsky, the founder and co-owner of Kernel, one of the largest Ukrainian agricultural groups. The owner of PJSC Zinkiv-Agrotrans is the State Property Fund.
According to data from the information disclosure system of the National Commission on Securities and the Stock Market, the value of Zinkiv-Agrotrans’ fixed assets as of the end of 2015 was UAH 600,000, the net loss in 2015 increased by 2.3 times, to UAH 450,000, net sales income decreased by four times, to UAH 320,000.
KYIV. Jan 17 (Interfax-Ukraine) – Ukraine plans in 2017 to launch several new trains to European cities, Infrastructure Minister of Ukraine Volodymyr Omelyan has told to the Espreso TV Channel.
“Now we are considering a new direction to Poland. In addition, we want to launch a Mukacheve-Budapest train this year. It is also potentially a very interesting destination. We are considering the direction of Slovakia. During several last years it turned out that “train number one” was that to Moscow, but there should be one to Europe. And we are striving for this,” the minister said.
As reported, Ukrzaliznytsia launched new high-speed Intercity+ train No. 705/706 Kyiv-Lviv-Przemysl from December 23, 2016.
“The fare in the train from Kyiv to Przemysl in first class carriages is estimated at UAH 574, second class cars UAH 406, from Lviv to Przemysl in first class cars UAH 235, second class cars UAH 172,” a statement reads.
