KYIV. Nov 24 (Interfax-Ukraine) – EMZA LLC (Kyiv) has won a privatization tender to sell non-operating Myhia hydroelectric power plant (HPP) on the Southern Bug River paying UAH 52.5 million with the starting price of UAH 10.863 million, Head of Ukraine’s State Property Fund (SPF) Ihor Bilous told reporters after the tender.
He said that 16 companies submitted bids. Some 25 price increments were made and the starting price was increase by five times.
Bilous said that a group of companies that incorporates EMZA is operating four HPPs.
“We are waiting that the sale and purchase agreement with the winner will be signed and hope for fruitful cooperation in the future,” he said.
Marko Kravchenko is the owner of EMZA LLC founded in 2000.
Kravchenko jointly with Dmytro Nikulin own Science Innovation Production that is building a small HPP on the Sluch River in Zhytomyr region.
Nikulin also holds shares in Balford Ukraine LLC (via Chemtrade Estonia) that is building a small HPP on the Stryi River in Lviv region.
Chemtrade Estonia and Balford Chemicals OU (Estonia) sell titanium dioxide, fertilizers and other chemicals made in Ukraine to consumers from Europe and Asia.
KYIV. Nov 24 (Interfax-Ukraine) – The Ukrainian government has decreased the rent rate for state-owned property where mobile communications equipment will be installed from 40% to 18% and significantly relaxed the procedure for launching mobile communications towers.
“We want to ease the work of mobile operators in two spheres: changing the dissonance for how rent rates for state-owned premises are calculated for mobile towers. Sometimes rental of roofs was calculated as rental of offices. We have facilitated launching of easy-to-assemble towers that could be assembled in three days, while it takes ten times more time to receive permits for them,” First Deputy Economic Development and Trade Minister Maksym Nefyodov said.
He said that the decease of the rates would make rental of state-owned property more attractive and help to additionally raise some UAH 50 million a year. The relaxation of tower launch would shorten time to install them by at least one month. The operators would quicker expand 3G networks in the country.
According to Nefyodov’s presentation, technical telecommunications equipment would be removed from the list of construction facilities for which the preconstruction and construction works are approved in advance.
KYIV. Nov 24 (Interfax-Ukraine) – The State Agency of Automobile Roads of Ukraine (Ukravtodor) intends to build a new road, which will connect the M-06 Kyiv-Chop highway with the Hungarian road M-3 Budapest-Nyiregyhaza.
According to the press service of the agency, the corresponding decision was made after a joint review of infrastructure on the Ukrainian-Hungarian border.
“This will allow combining the two roads of the first category, will significantly improve transport links between Ukraine and Europe because today only the Tysa-Chop-Zahony international checkpoint on the Ukrainian-Hungarian border is able to transit truck transport to Hungary and other EU countries,” the report reads.
In addition, the parties are considering two options for possible transport communication. The first one is the reconstruction and expansion of the existing Luzhanka checkpoint, the approach to which passes through the densely built-up streets of Berehove and now works exclusively for passenger transport, while the second one is the construction of a new checkpoint near the settlement of Dyida.
KYIV. Nov 24 (Interfax-Ukraine) – Dan-Farm Ukraine LLC seeks to launch a pig farm with 25,000 pigs in Korosten district of Zhytomyr region.
“We started building it [the pig farm] in 2014. It is being finished. We plan to launch it early next year,” First Deputy Director General Vadym Shestakov told reporters at the Agricultural Olympus 2016 international congress in Kyiv on Tuesday.
He said that the company has a sow farm with 3,000 sows in Khalcha. The farm can produce up to 100,000 pigs a year.
Some EUR 10 million has been invested in the pig farm in Zhytomyr region. The total cost of the project is EUR 12 million.
“The project has five phases. Now we are launching two pig farms, a feed processing room and two administrative buildings,” he said.
The company does not plan to slaughter pigs. This will be discussed after boosting the number of pigs and the launch of new pig farms.
Dan-Farm Ukraine is not involved in exports due to the complicated epizootic situation in Ukraine due to African swine fever (ASF).
According to the unified register of companies, the owners of the company are Dutch companies Berry Farm ApS and Ukraine-Agro A/S.
KYIV. Nov 24 (Interfax-Ukraine) – President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko and Speaker of the Israeli Knesset Yuli-Yoel Edelstein have met in Kyiv to discuss the acceleration of the signing of a free trade agreement between the two countries and also touched on political cooperation.
“The head of the state said that he had signed the Law of Ukraine on the ratification of the agreement between the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine and the Government of the State of Israel on temporary employment of Ukrainian workers. The agreement will provide for the employment of thousands of qualified Ukrainian specialists who will get reliable social guarantees and rights during their work in Israel,” the president’s press service said.
The parties discussed the issue of accelerating the conclusion of the Free Trade Agreement between Ukraine and Israel where the special attention is paid to boosting investment cooperation.
Poroshenko thanked the Israeli side for the support of the United Nations General Assembly’s resolution on human rights in Crimea.
In turn, the speaker of the Israeli Knesset thanked Ukraine for hosting events to honor the memory of victims of the Babi Yar (Babyn Yar) tragedy that occurred 75 years ago.
As reported, on November 16 the Verkhovna Rada, Ukraine’s parliament, ratified the agreement on temporary employment of Ukrainian workers in certain industries in Israel.
KYIV. Nov 22 (Interfax-Ukraine) – The first results of operation of the innovation park on the territory of Kyiv Motorcycle Plant, the anchor projects of which are UNIT Factory and Technology Companies’ Development Center (TCDC), would allow making a decision on the viability of expanding this project to other cities in the country, in particular, Lviv and Kharkiv, the businessman, famous developer and founder of K.Fund Vasyl Khmelnytsky has said.
“I would open the first part [of the project in Kyiv]. I will see how the university works and how the project as a cluster works. Then I would assess the possibility of expanding the project to Lviv and Kharkiv. I have sites there,” he said in an interview with Interfax-Ukraine.
Khmelnytsky said that 25 ha were allocated in Kyiv for the future innovation park. The presentation of the park and the managing company is scheduled for May 2017. Total investment in its development is estimated at $100-400 million.
Commenting on the anchor projects, the founder of the park said that UNIT Factory created in partnership with French coding school 42 is free and open to all with the condition of working in Ukraine for three years after graduation. He said it should become a powerful source of IT specialists for companies that would be residents of the innovation park. He said that the number of students in UNIT Factory would be increased from current 300 to 3,000.
“In three years we would create the environment where it would be hard for a person to leave our park. There will be everything there: institutes, startups, support center, many various free services, cafes, restaurants, accommodations and medical services. We would create a real cluster,” he said.
He said that the second anchor project of the innovation park is TCDC with gross area of 3,500 square meters. It will support small and medium-sized high-tech projects offering offices at the rent rates starting from $5 per square meter to compensation of up to 70% of the cost of educational programs. Kyiv Mohyla Business School will be the educational partner of the center. Yevhen Sarantsov’s BlackBox Capital would be responsible for management in the technology sphere. In addition, a managing company, an advisory board, Juscutum law firm, BIONIC IT-University, two high-tech laboratories VR Lab (Crytek) and Smart City Lab would support the center. Construction works would be finished in December 2016. Total investment in TCDC is assessed at UAH 100 million.
“We propose to companies to move to us with a discount. Thirty companies are ready to do this. In addition, we have arranged with Fablab Fabricator that they would be residents of the park. Then we will try to attract other companies, look for an investor, then find contractors to grow and expand. The main thing they would stay with us,” Khmelnytsky said.
He said that he wants to attract not only IT companies, but also representative of a wider cluster of new technologies.
The businessman said that he does not have plans to create a venture fund or enter IT business himself.
“I do not create my own IT companies. We would have 30 companies. Let them agree with each other, hire someone. I am ready to create the environment. The better environment is the higher rent rates will be. I will earn on this. I am afraid that if I create an IT company, I would become a rival [in the eyes of other companies],” he said.
Khmelnytsky said that if promising startups and companies start working in the park venture funds would show their interest to them.
Commenting on his previous project – Bionic Hill innovation park, when it was planned to open a large research and development (R&D) town with 35,000 jobs in the suburbs of Kyiv on 147 ha of the former military unit, he said that the project has been frozen until favorable conditions on the market appear.
“There was no chance for Bionic today, as many foreign companies left the country for some reasons. I wanted to create the environment mainly for our specialists who would work in western R&D centers. Today they went away and now it is hard to do from the economic point of view,” the businessman said.
He said that he would realize the project in the future.
“I am sure that it would build it. When I speak about UNIT, this is Bionic, but of the smaller scale and in the city,” he said.
Khmelnytsky is a majority shareholder in UDP, which is engaged in implementing large-scale infrastructure projects. Kyiv International Airport, Ocean Plaza shopping mall, Novopecherski Lypki residential complex, Boulevard of Fountains, RiverStone and Parkove Misto are among them.
K.Fund was founded in 2015 to support projects related to education and the economy.
