President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky announced the need to complete the construction of about 1,000 facilities under the Big Construction national program during 2021-2022.
“About 1,000 objects of the Big Construction project for 2021 and projects planned for the next years must be completed, reconstructed and put into operation. Preferably on time,” Zelensky said at a meeting of the Chamber of Local Authorities of the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of Ukraine in Khmelnytsky on Thursday.
According to the head of state, close interaction of the central and regional authorities is crucial for this.
Ukravtodor (the State Automobile Roads Agency of Ukraine) denies information that a number of roads, renovated and built as part of the Big Construction, will soon become toll roads, the ministry’s press service reports on Facebook.
“On December 23, 2020, at a government meeting, a resolution was approved that sets the maximum amount of payment for one-time travel on roads that are built under the concession. There is not a single road built at the expense of private investors in Ukraine yet. That is, none of the Big Construction roads can become toll this year. The only purpose of the resolution is to create conditions for starting a dialogue with investors on the implementation of concession projects in Ukraine,” Ukravtodor reported.
The press service of the department also said that the construction of concession toll roads necessarily involves a free alternative.
Ukravtodor reported that in November, together with the IFC and the Ministry of Infrastructure, they presented a public-private partnership program in the road industry.
“At the first stage, it is planned to transfer to investors six pilot sections of roads with a total length of 1,400 kilometers. On these sections, the investors have no right to charge a toll, but they will earn on roadside infrastructure and availability payments from the state road fund,” the message says.
The plan of the Big Construction program as of mid-November 2020 was already completed by 87%, the Big Construction project office at the President’s Office of Ukraine has told Interfax-Ukraine.
“For all of us, Big Construction is, first of all, a significant managerial and media challenge. Some 87% of completed objects speak for themselves – this is an absolute record of completion for all the years of independence. By the end of the year, they should approach 95%,” Deputy Head of the President’s Office Kyrylo Tymoshenko said.
According to the office, by mid-November, work was completed at the following facilities: schools – 93%, state roads – 92%, kindergartens – 89%, sports facilities – 87%, local roads – 81%, piece structures – 78%.
In total, within the framework of the Big Construction program, announced by President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky in early 2020, it was planned to update and build 6,500 km of state and local roads, more than 150 artificial structures, 100 schools, 100 kindergartens, 100 sports facilities.
According to Tymoshenko, in 2021, in addition to the continuation of current projects (roads, schools, medical institutions, etc.), new infrastructure areas will be added to the Big Construction program: updating checkpoints on the borders of Ukraine and their entrances, a government program for affordable housing, public-private partnership projects in the medical field, the development and renewal of regional aviation infrastructure.
As reported, the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine on September 18 adopted bill No. 3991 on amendments to the state budget. The matter concerns the allocation of UAH 3.16 billion of unused state funds for infrastructure projects, a significant part of which is unfinished construction.
