KYIV. Dec 29 (Interfax-Ukraine) – Ukraine’s 2016 national budget envisages UAH 156 million for reconstruction of equipment and construction of the new gas purification system at the Energia incineration plant in Kyiv, and the cost of the completion of the reconstruction in general is assessed at UAH 362 million today, the Kyiv City Administration said on Monday, referring to Deputy Administration Head Petro Panteleyev.
“UAH 156 million from the 2016 national budget is foreseen as part of the EU assistance program. However, UAH 206 million is required to complete the works,” Panteleyev said during his visit to the plant.
He said that at present Kyiv authorities are actively working on the attraction of funds to reconstruct the Energia incineration plant.
Panteleyev said that in 2015, the plant burnt 80,000 tonnes of household waste more than in 2014, and it is planned to increase the figure thanks to the expansion of the capacity of the plant.
KYIV. Dec 29 (Interfax-Ukraine) – The Cabinet of Ministers has approved the targeted ecological program for uranium facilities of Barrier company.
This is outlined in cabinet resolution No. 1091 of December 23 published on Monday.
According to the program, Barrier is the main enterprise located on the territory of former Prydniprovsky Chemical Plant, the large enterprise of the USSR defense and industrial complex that produced uranium concentrate. The enterprise had uranium and thorium ores processing facilities, and ending stocks of ore and naturally occurring radioactive materials reached 42 million tonnes.
The program aims at preventing disasters and maintaining safe storage of uranium facilities and monitoring their state. It is planned to realize the program in 2015-2017. It is planned to draw up a long-term strategy for bringing the uranium facilities in the safe condition with the help of a consortium of European organizations Wismut, Visutek (Germany) and Facilia AB (Sweden).
The approximate volume of financing is UAH 67.74 million, including UAH 49.88 million from Ukraine’s national budget and thanks to international technical assistance of the European Union.
KYIV. Dec 28 (Interfax-Ukraine) – The Infrastructure Ministry of Ukraine and the State Fiscal Service have signed a memorandum of cooperation in the IT sector regarding port procedure cooperation.
An Interfax-Ukraine correspondent has reported that Infrastructure Minister Andriy Pyvovarsky and Head of the State Fiscal Service Roman Nasirov signed the document on Friday.
The sides would improve the processes of handling cargo, start exchanging data between information systems of the agencies and remove duplication of information submitted to marine agents on goods shipped in containers.
At the first stage the relaxation of customs procedures will touch internal and external transit cargos. The next stage will be the introduction of these rules for imported cargos.
“If earlier ships entered ports and then customs officers started cargo clearance procedures that could last for several days, today our goal is to reduce the term for customs clearance to a zero,” Pyvovarsky said.
Thus, the customs clearance will be settled before ships arrive to ports.
KYIV. Dec 28 (Interfax-Ukraine) – Ukrainian railways in the period from January 1 to December 23, 2015 loaded 27.4 million tonnes of grain to almost 423,000 wagons, which is 15% more than a year ago when 23.8 million tonnes was loaded.
The press service of public joint-stock company Ukrzaliznytsia reported that almost 384,000 wagons with 25.3 million tonnes of grain were sent to ports, and 38,900 wagons with 2.14 million tonnes of grain were sent to the domestic market.
Ukrzaliznytsia said that in December 2015 its operating grain hoppers fleet is 10,800 wagons. The number of grain hoppers is enough to ship 2-2.5 million tonnes of grain and grain cargo every month.
KYIV. Dec 28 (Interfax-Ukraine) – The general fund of the national budget for 2016 foresees UAH 3 billion for the State Fund for Regional Development and UAH 1.94 billion for the socio-economic development of the regions of Ukraine.
These data were voiced by the Ministry of Regional Development, Construction, Housing and Utilities Services, with reference to Vice Prime Minister, Regional Development Minister Hennadiy Zubko.
“As a result, this totals UAH 4.94 billion, which is more than the amount provided previously, namely UAH 4.64 billion. But the main thing is subventions to support the infrastructure projects of united territorial communities in the amount of UAH 1 billion,” Zubko said.
According to him, these funds will be spent on supporting united territorial communities, as well as developing infrastructure and administrative centers in the communities next year.
In addition, the national budget for 2016 foresees the following subventions for 159 territorial communities: educational subventions will amount to UAH 1.6 billion, health care to UAH 844 million, basic subventions to UAH 284.9 million, Zubko added.
The business community of Ukraine supports the initiative of Sweden’s Folkuniversitetet, located in the city of Uppsala, to implement international projects related to employment and professional training of future specialists in Ukraine. In the long-term outlook, such measures are expected to double the level of employment. The Swedish side is willing to give a comprehensive assessment of interaction between educational institutions and employers, and the Ukrainian League of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs (ULIE) can help with this initiative as the most powerful association of the Ukrainian business community and industry. The main thing here is how to adapt the Ukrainian educational sector to the standards used by the European Union, especially on the eve of opening of markets in January next year, and further closer integration with the EU.
The Swedes managed to reform this sector 20 years ago, after joining the European Union. These processes are the biggest impetus to change in countries. In addition to the adaptation to Western standards, which will facilitate the exchange of specialists, recognition of academic diplomas, etc., Ukraine must modernize mechanisms of employment of graduates.
“Ukraine in fact lacks policy and strategy for encouraging the employment potential, which has a direct connection with vocational training. At the same time, properly trained specialists are a decisive factor of economic competitiveness. These issues can be resolved only through dialogue between the government, businesses and the public, with the involvement of our international partners,” the ULIE’s representatives said.
The projects proposed to Ukraine have already been successfully tested in many countries, according to Director of the Department for International Cooperation at the University Ali Rashidi. They aim to create a certain synergy between the education and business spheres, i.e. between supply and demand. “If a graduate is not employed, the whole process of education was ineffective” ‒ this is the slogan our Western partners live up to.
This model provides for a clear definition of companies’ demand for various specialists and engagement of their representatives in the educational process. Ali Rashidi claims such measures were conductive to an increase in employment in Sweden from 45% to 95%.
“When Ukraine joins the EU, you’ll have to adapt your educational sector to the EU standards ‒ and there are many of them, namely qualifications, the quality of education and others. So now it’s time to assess the quality of education in Ukraine and start its upgrading,” the Swedish expert said.
Having received funding from its government, the University plans to launch such a pilot project in the Ukrainian city of Vinnytsia, and later it will be extended to other regions in Ukraine. The University counts on the ULIE’s support, having secured such support from the Ukrainian Education Ministry beforehand.
The parties agreed to work actively in that direction, and the ULIE has pledged to help with direct contacts, involvement of SMEs as the most flexible and suitable participant in this project.
