KYIV. Oct 24 (Interfax-Ukraine) – Ukrainian Prime Minister Volodymyr Groysman has welcomed the establishment of a committee by the Ukrainian World Congress to support the economic development of Ukraine.
“The Ukrainian World Congress supports the government on the path of reforms and set up a committee to support economic development. I welcome this initiative and am ready for close and quality cooperation,” Groysman wrote on his Facebook page.
“The support of our powerful 20-millon diaspora could be very useful for us,” the premier said.
As reported, the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine and the Ukrainian World Congress on September 27, 2016 signed a memorandum of cooperation. According to Groysman, cooperation can take place both in economic and cultural spheres.
KYIV. Oct 24 (Interfax-Ukraine) – National energy company Ukrenergo since October 2015 as of today has saved UAH 5.3 billion during procurement, acting Director of Ukrenergo Vsevolod Kovalchuk said on Espreso TV.
“We have saved UAH 5.3 billion on procurement during a year of my work,” he said, adding that over UAH 3 billion was saved at tenders held at the end of September 2016.
The top manager said that the key reason of saving funds is competition between bidders at tenders announced by the company.
“We save not only because the prices were set too high. We save because we attract dozens of executors of these tenders to the process. The only mechanism is competition. We recorded clear statistics: when there are two bidders in the tender – 3% is saved. They made an arrangement. When we bring 20 companies from all over the world with geography of 15 countries, they do not make arrangements between each other,” Kovalchuk said.
As reported, late March 2016 Ukrenergo signed a contract with ZTR to supply 22 autotransformers and shunt reactors worth UAH 828.591 million (VAT included). The price of transformer equipment turned out to be UAH 1.1 billion lower than expected due to competition between ZTR, ABB and Siemens at the auction.
On September 27, September 28 and September 30 the company opened tender bids to reconstruct six high-voltage substations using funds of the World Bank. The company saved around UAH 3.3 billion ($125 million) or 47% of the sum estimated to reconstruct these substations in 2014.
Bids were filed by companies in Italy, Croatia, China, Germany, Slovenia, Sweden, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, Saudi Arabia, South Korea, the Czech Republic, Latvia and Ukraine.
Kovalchuk said that in 2014 reconstruction of the substations was assessed at $267 million, while after the tenders it would be carried out for $142 million. The 330 kV substations Zhytomyrska, Cherkaska, Novokyivska, Nyvky, Sumy and Kremenchuk will be reconstructed.
KHARKIV. Oct 21 (Interfax-Ukraine) – DCH Group owner and president Oleksandr Yaroslavsky plans to resume the work of Kharkiv Tractor Plant from the beginning of 2017.
“I cannot now voice the exact timing of the resumption of the plant’s operations… We have all the levers for this. We have only to finish all our court cases… I hope next year we will launch the plant,” Yaroslavsky said at a briefing in Kharkiv.
As reported, complex reorganization measures are being held at the plant to resume its work. A number of services have started work, economic ties with suppliers and partners are being resumed.
As reported, Yaroslavsky will become virtually the sole owner of Kharkiv Tractor Plant after he buys a stake of around 29%, which the Austrian investor refused, and concentrates 91.76% of the shares.
According Yaroslavsky, the remaining 8% of the shares is owned by about 20,000 minority shareholders.
KYIV. Oct 21 (Interfax-Ukraine) – Potential investors are ready to work at Yuzhny maritime merchandise port (Odesa region), but there is a problem of managing port land, Head of Yuzhny Port branch of Ukrainian Sea Port Authority Maksym Shyrokov has said.
“Today the administration does not manage port-side land, and this is the main thing, the start of all investment. We do not have synergy with local authorities and understanding who needs land and for what purpose,” he said in an interview with Interfax-Ukraine.
He said that today local authorities make independent decisions and allocate land parcels. The Sea Port Authority is not invited to hear what is planned to do on these parcels.
“This situation is absurd. Port managers do not manage port land and do not decide how to use it,” he said.
Shyrokov said that no land parcel belongs to the port, and private companies own land.
“For example, I could bring a good investor to 3 ha of port land and he is ready to come, asking where he can go to settle the issue. He goes to local authorities and keeps going to the same rooms for six months and finally cannot bear it and leaves. Who is interested in getting investment: me or local authorities to replenish their local budgets? We are interested in implementing development plans, as well as our ministries, but we do not have enough tools for this,” he said.
Yuzhny port was founded in 1978. It is located on the Adzhalyk firth and is the deepest harbor in Ukraine. The length of its berths is around 2.6 kilometers. The port has six handling terminals.
Sea terminals in various forms of ownership operate at the port: Pivdenny oil terminal, Transbunker-Yug LLC’s fuel handling terminal, a terminal of Transinvestservice LLC, a grain handling terminal of Borivage LLC, and a tropic oil handling and processing complex of Delta Wilmar CIS LLC.
KYIV. Oct 21 (Interfax-Ukraine) – President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko on the margins of the European People’s Party summit in the Maastricht town (the Netherlands) has discussed the issues of bilateral cooperation in economic, energy and humanitarian spheres with new Prime Minister of Croatia Andrey Plenkovich.
“Poroshenko said that Ukraine is still interested in joining the Adriatic-Baltic-Black Sea Initiative, which is actively promoted by Croatia,” the press service of the Ukrainian head of state said on Thursday.
It was also agreed on the visit of Croatia’s prime minister to Ukraine in the near future.
KYIV. Oct 21 (Interfax-Ukraine) – The A2B Direct online platform for haulers, the ideologist of which was Ukrainian businessman and former lawmakers and former transport minister of Ukraine Yevhen Chervonenko, will be presented in Ukraine on October 20.
“Some 37 years ago I started my career driving MAZ and I know this sphere well. I know well how it is hard to earn each kopeck for haulers. A2B Direct is an innovative logistics ‘friend’ who will help to provide with the best service and reduce expenses on forwarding agents – bloodsuckers of Ukrainian and global markets. For my country this is ‘reform from below’ and I am proud that I launch it from Ukraine,” he said on Facebook.
According to him, A2B Direct online service ensures direct cooperation between haulers and cargo owners at all stages. One can find an optimal hauler online. A2B Direct is able to connect to the driver 24/7. It maintains the entire document cycle, insurance and legal accompanying. The service users will be able to track their cargo online and fully get rid of forwarders’ markups.
Haulers and cargo owners will be able to quickly find deals and plan their loading, reducing no-load trips to minimum.
From October the service is operating in the test mode in Ukraine. In 2017 it will be available for CIS states. The registration is available on the service’s website. It is free of charge for users until the end of 2016.
Among partners of the project are Kyivstar, WOG, OKKO, Alfa-Bank Ukraine, Bank Vostok and Unison insurance company. The project is launched with support of the Association of International Road Carriers of Ukraine (AsMAP).
