During the three months of the war, the construction industry of Ukraine has decreased by more than 70%, despite the point resumption of work at construction sites in Ukraine, while the cost of construction has increased by 20%, said Sergey Pilipenko, general director of the Kovalska group.
“I can state that, despite the statements of individual developers about the resumption of work, including Kovalska, the market has declined by more than 70%. This is if we consider the volume of construction work, the consumption of building materials,” Pilipenko said during online conference “Marshall Plan” and urban prospects of Ukrainian cities after the war: economic and urban strategies” on Thursday.
According to him, the cost of construction of facilities has increased by more than 20%, including due to a significant increase in the cost of building materials, logistics, inflation and the growth of the exchange rate.
The expert pointed out that the primary real estate market has actually stopped. “So far there are no signals for a quick exit from this state,” he said.
Pilipenko believes that the increase in the discount rate to 25% actually made it impossible to finance the business, so investment in new projects is in question. In addition, there are still no mechanisms for financing restoration projects by foreign states and investors.
In his opinion, in the near future the main construction activity will be projects of emergency repairs, dismantling, erection of temporary structures.
“Really assessing the situation, the state, in the context of ongoing hostilities, cannot fully and large-scale finance any restoration projects. It does not have the funds for this, and now the priorities are different. Therefore, from the point of view of construction activity, maximum developers can count on emergency repairs, dismantling or construction of temporary engineering structures, bridges,” he said.
PSG “Kovalska” has been operating in the construction market of Ukraine since 1956. It unites more than 20 enterprises in the field of extraction of raw materials, production and construction. The products are represented by the brands “Beton ot Kovalskaya”, “Avenue”, Siltek and others.
Enterprises of “Kovalska” work in Kyiv, Zhytomyr, Lvov, Kherson and Chernihiv regions. The total number of employees is 5 thousand people.
In addition, the group includes Kovalska Real Estate, which is engaged in the construction of residential facilities in Kyiv. Her portfolio includes 20 completed residential projects.
