Ukrainian bus manufacturer Cherkassy Buses JSC will supply 79 school buses to Lviv Regional State Administration for UAH 234.216 mln by the end of this year, while the expected purchase amount is UAH 238.6 mln.
According to information in Prozorro, the relevant contract was signed by the parties on July 25.
In the scope of delivery – eight buses designed for the transportation of immobile schoolchildren (with one or two seats for them).
“Cherkassy Bus” was the only participant of the procurement procedure. It offered Ataman buses manufactured in 2023 (localization degree – more than 65%), with a diesel engine, Euro 5 environmental standard.
As reported, the subvention from the state budget to local budgets for the purchase of school buses in 2023 amounted to UAH 1 billion, including Lviv region was allocated UAH 80.605 million.
School buses are purchased on the condition of co-financing from the state budget and local budgets. At the same time, the buses are purchased through the procedure of request for quotation in the electronic catalog Prozorro Market (a systematized database of actual offers of goods of suppliers).
As a result of the procurement, several regions of Ukraine will also receive Ataman buses (in particular, Ivano-Frankivsk and Mykolayiv regions), with the buses being offered by Cherkasy Bus dealers.
Lviv Regional State Administration purchased 126 Ataman school buses for more than UAH 300 mln in 2022.
Founded in 1994, Cherkassky Bus plant produces small class buses, as well as other wheeled vehicles on the units of Japanese Isuzu.
In 2022, the plant increased its net profit by almost 2.9 times to UAH 65.02m, while net income grew by 32.5% to UAH 842.29m.
The Constitution does not prohibit holding elections during martial law, Verkhovna Rada Chairman Ruslan Stefanchuk has said.
“There is no such prohibition (on holding elections during martial law) in the Constitution. This prohibition is contained in the law of Ukraine “On the legal regime of martial law”. And therefore, as if there is no constitutional prohibition to hold elections during martial law,” – said Stefanchuk in an interview with the TV channel “Rada” in the air of a single telethon.
At the same time, the speaker of the Parliament emphasized that at the moment it is necessary to adhere to the balance.
“On the one hand – yes, the Parliament must continue its work, must adopt the necessary legislative acts. We are entering the budget process and these are very important things. On the other hand we should realize that there should be no stagnation of the democracy that exists in society. And that is why the President of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, Mr. Cox, and other colleagues say that it is still necessary to make efforts to implement this,” – said the Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada.
According to him, this issue may be a matter of discussions.
“And I think that we need to make some important decisions on this (issue), so that on the one hand – to ensure stability in the state, so that the state is not torn by elections during the war, but on the other hand – to ensure this flow of democracy, which is what Ukraine is fighting for in principle,” he said.
Asked whether he would support changes to the election law, Stefanchuk said: “Let’s see how this issue will be resolved. But I think it will be updated in the near future.”
As reported earlier, PACE head Tiny Cox said earlier that it was necessary to hold free and fair elections in Ukraine despite the war.
The Russian Federation’s attack on the Danube port of Reni on the night of July 24 has led to a significant increase in freight rates for the transportation of grain and oilseeds by barges from the ports of Reni and Izmail (both in Odessa region) to Constanta (Romania), freight for transportation by coasters has increased significantly, the press service of the Ukrainian Grain Association (UGA) reported.
According to the report, as of June 27, 2023, freight rates for transportation of corn and wheat, rapeseed and barley by barges to the Romanian port increased by EUR8/tonne – to EUR38/tonne and EUR43/tonne respectively. At the same time, freight for transportation of granulated sunflower meal increased by EUR7/ton – up to EUR45/ton.
Besides, freight rates for wheat and corn transportation by coasters from Reni and Izmail ports to Crete increased by USD4-6/tonne – up to USD42-44/tonne, to Israel and Eastern Mediterranean – by USD3/tonne, to USD48-50/tonne and USD43-45/tonne respectively, to the east coast of Italy – by USD2-5/tonne to USD50-53/tonne, to the east coast of Greece – by USD2-3/tonne to USD39-40/tonne. Rates for grain transportation to Spain increased by USD1-4/ton to USD56-59/ton.
At the same time, UZA noted that shipowners demanded payment of additional military insurance premium for shipments to Spain, Israel and the eastern coast of Italy.
According to its data, freight on transportation of rapeseed meal by coasters from Reni and Izmail ports to Spain increased by USD2-5/tonne to USD77-80/tonne, granulated sunflower meal to Marmara by USD3-4/tonne to USD43-44/tonne, non-granulated by USD3/tonne to USD48/tonne.
“At the beginning of the week, amid mass anxiety, some shipowners refused to provide their vessels to call at Sulina (Romania), but later returned to fulfill their obligations,” UZA stated.
Qatar will allocate $100 million to Ukraine for rehabilitation in the field of medical care, education, humanitarian demining and other important social and humanitarian projects, Qatar’s Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammad bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al-Thani said during a meeting with Ukrainian Prime Minister Denis Shmygal on Friday.
“During the meeting, we also noted the importance of resuming the work of the Black Sea Grain Initiative and the need to continue the implementation of the Grain from Ukraine initiative.” We discussed in detail the Formula of Peace initiated by the President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky. Thanks to Qatar for its readiness to make mediation efforts to return Ukrainian children, whom Russia illegally exported and continues to hold on its territory,” Shmygal wrote in his Telegram channel.
The parties also agreed to work closely within the framework of the Joint Intergovernmental Commission on Economic, Trade and Technical Cooperation.
“As well as to create other specialized working groups and commissions to work out issues in different spheres: from high technology and digitalization to the supply of drinking water in those regions of Ukraine where it is needed,” Shmygal added.
The Verkhovna Rada has exempted from value added tax (VAT) a number of goods imported to Ukraine for security and defense needs.
A total of 294 people’s deputies voted for the relevant draft law No. 9467 on amendments to the transitional provisions of the Tax Code on the peculiarities of importing into the customs territory of Ukraine goods for security and defense needs at the plenary session on Friday, a member of the faction “Golos” Yaroslav Zheleznyak said in his Telegram channel.
The bill exempts from VAT thermal imaging binoculars, monoculars and binoculars, night vision devices and rangefinders that are imported into the customs territory of Ukraine.
TAS Insurance Group (Kyiv) has paid UAH 1.567 million for a Hidromek HMK 370LC HD excavator drowned in a swampy area, having settled the incident in full, according to the insurer’s website.
It is specified that the incident occurred at one of the border areas in the Rivne region, where large construction equipment, including the excavator insured by TAS, was involved in the construction of additional protective structures. At some point, the excavator suddenly began to “sink”. To rescue the machine, the State Emergency Service was called, which used another excavator to try to make a flooring and at the same time launched drainage pumps.
After examining the circumstances of the incident, TAS Insurance Group, where the excavator was insured under the Pravoe KASKO contract, recognized the incident as insured and settled it in full.
